Taking classes

You will soon be entering a new phase in your life. You will say goodbye to secondary school and start university. Perhaps you are going to leave home too, which means your environment is going to change as well. You will start a new and probably busy social life, with many new impressions to process. All this is going to take up a great deal of time and energy in the first phase of your studies.

There are a number of clear differences between secondary school and studying at university, for example: you will not be following lessons but lectures. The number of hours of teaching will also change: instead of a full week of lessons, you will have 14 to 16 hours of lectures and an enormous increase in the hours of independent study. You are responsible for your own study schedule and will be expected to study about 38 hours per week in total.

The courses in the IRIO programme consist of lectures in large groups in which you listen to the lecturer and take notes. Most courses also have seminars with a group of 20-25 students, in which you will discuss the literature you have read and the assignments you have completed at home.

The IRIO programme has a mentor programme for first-year students. More information about the mentor programme can be found in the Online Study Guide of the Bachelor IRIO under Mentor programme.

From now on, you will study amongst students who may have a different nationality and language than you. During lectures and seminar groups, the language everybody uses is English. We encourage you to also use English outside of the classroom, for example during coffee breaks. That makes it easier for everybody to be included in a group or conversation.

Department of International Relations and International Organization

Since you will soon be starting the Bachelor programme, it is important that you know where to find our department. It is on the fifth floor of the Harmonie Building (Faculty of Arts), Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 26. Here you will find all the lecturers and professors, the study advisers and the secretariat.

Other important locations

Many lectures take place in the Faculty of Arts Harmonie Building (Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26), but also in the Academy Building, which is the University's main building. You will find this building at Broerstraat 5, around the corner from the Harmonie Building. You will also spend time in the University Library (UB). The UB is located at Broerstraat 4; opposite the Academy Building.

Exams at Zernike

During the academic year, you will be tested on your knowledge of the courses you have taken. These exams are often held in the Aletta Jacobs Examination Hall at the Zernike campus. The Zernike campus is situated outside the city centre. A map can be found on http://www.rug.nl/staff/location/5263