European Honors Council
Networking in talent development
Marca Wolfensberger & Maarten Hogenstijn Sorø, 9 December 2015
Marca Wolfensberger
Two affiliations:
1. Leader Research Centre Talent Development in Higher Education and Society – Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen
2. Honors coordinator – Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
Other expertise:
• Fellow National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) – co-chair research committee NCHC
• Member Jury Excellent Schools for national government • Member review commission nationwide Sirius Program
Maarten Hogenstijn
Project leader Honors in Europe
• Responsible for data gathering process • European network formation
Other affiliations:
• Former honours student in human geography
• Researcher ‘social entrepreneurship’ at Amsterdam UAS • Researcher local and regional identity
Towards a European Honors
Council
• Honors in Europe – the project
• Honors in Europe – results and next steps
• European network formation
Project Honors in Europe:
phase 1
• Research project about special provisions for
gifted and talented students in Higher
Education in Europe.
• Eleven countries studied: Benelux, Nordic and
German-speaking countries.
• Inventory of programs at 303 Higher
Education Institutions (4 million
Publication
• Book published in
open access at
Springer
• Over 20,000
downloads so far
http://link.springer.com/book/10.100 7%2F978-3-319-12919-8Definition
‘Honors programs are selective study programs
linked to higher education institutions. They are
designed for motivated and gifted students who
want to do more than the regular program
offers. These programs have clear admission
criteria and clear goals and offer educational
opportunities that are more challenging and
demanding than regular programs.’
Honors
provisions per
country
Additional countries
included:
Southern Europe
Project Honors in Europe:
phase 2
Excellence in Europe (2)
Countries with
Excellence in Europe (3)
Countries with
honors education
or excellence
program in
research
Excellence in Europe (4)
Countries with
honors education
or excellence
program in
research or
excellence
program in
secondary
education
Honors in Europe
The culture towards excellence in Europe is slowly
becoming more positive
This is revolutionary, but in many countries it is still
a silent revolution
European network
formation
June 2015: First step taken towards formation of European Honors
Council.
Key persons in talent
development gathered in Nijmegen (Netherlands), including Nils O.
Andersen and Linda Mattsson from Nordic
Talent Network. Steering group formed
European Honors Council
network goals
1. Supporting and stimulating development of honors education and its structural embeddedness in the education system
2. Creating a common language
3. Supporting teacher professionalization (within honors)
4. Creation and exchange of knowledge about honors programs 5. Stimulating and facilitating research about honors
6. Enabling networking for people involved in honors
7. Stimulating spin-off of successful honors practices to regular education
8. Promoting an easier flow of talented students from secondary to higher education
9. Stimulating professional development of honors students and connection to working life / research career
European Honors Council
Next steps:
-Steering group meeting on 15 January 2016
-application for European grant under Erasmus+
Ka2 planned
-European conference planned in Utrecht
(Netherlands), 2-4 June 2016
How can Nordic Talent Network and European
Honors Council make further connections?
Many thanks for your attention.
(More) questions or remarks?
Contact: m.v.c.wolfensberger@pl.hanze.nl @MWolfensberger More information: www.hanze.nl/excellentie www.honorsineurope.com
