Honours Festival

Are you interested in what honours students do? Find out at the Honours Festival held on 25 June 2025 in the Academy Building!

What is it?

The Honours Festival is the final activity of the Broadening Part of the Honours College programme that students do before they graduate. The Broadening Part is organized to teach Honours students to approach current scientific and societal problems from different interdisciplinary perspectives and to translate this into a vision for the future. The Broadening Part consists of a deepening knowledge component, a skills component (academic writing, effective collaboration, debating) and a component focused on personal development (self-knowledge and reflection). For the Honours Festival, the students have prepared all kinds of activities in which they will present the results of their research projects.

Programme

The Honours Festival will start at 14:00 hours (2:00 p.m.) with speeches from various speakers. In the afternoon, you can expect a wide range of interesting and interactive activities. The subjects of the activities vary from sustainability, happiness and so much more. In addition, you can take a look around in the Academy Building and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea in the festival lounge.

After these activities, the festive speeches will start at 17:00 hours (5:00 p.m.) for invited guests, in the Aula of the Academy Building which were streamed in the Senaatskamer and Heymanszaal. Afterwards, the Honours College Medal will be presented by the honours faculty coordinators to their 'own' honours students in the various faculty rooms of the Academy Building.

The Honours College Medal will be awarded to all honours students who have completed, or are expected to complete, the Honours Programme by August 31, 2025 (the deepening as well as the broadening part of the Honours Programme). After the ceremony, there is a photo opportunity on the stairs of the Academy Building, and there are drinks afterwards.

We hope you will have a great day and join us in celebrating the success of the Goodall Cohort 2022-2023!

Previous Honours Festival promo video

Background information Honours Festival

Since 2012, the Honours Festival has been taking place in the Academy Building in Groningen. The festival will try to explain current societal issues in a clear and enjoyable manner. Students of the Honours College finish their Honours Programme with the activities they present during the festival. The event shows how students and professors cooperate and how this results in a memorable afternoon.