Project-Based Learning

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Projects provide the context for experiential learning. Here, existing and new scholarship is applied to practical situations, using collaborative problem-solving skills. In so doing, students make sense of the world and their role within it.

UCG is the only University College in the Netherlands to require students to work on interdisciplinary projects throughout their bachelor studies. Projects are a special type of course in which students are curiosity-driven scholars. In projects, students collaborate with faculty and experts to tackle real-world issues. Studying at UCG is about creating enduring and meaningful experiences rather than memorising - and forgetting - facts.

Students are deeply involved in every step of the project process: from research design to planning final project deliverables. They learn to analyse complex situations and identify the causes of problems lurking within. Then, students develop realistic and innovative recommendations and communicate those in a compelling way. Many of our projects collaborate with organizations, agencies, and firms, who participate in project evaluations.

Each year of projects builds on the one before:

• In Year One Projects, students are provided with a complex issue to tackle, learning methods of collaborative creativity, problem-solving and decision-making. Year One Project students focus their sense of social responsibility on complex global challenges.

• In Year Two Projects, students are given an issue, but required to develop their own research project. We equip our students with the scholarship and methods to acquire and integrate high quality information. This will help them achieve a nuanced understanding of the complexity of the problems that lie before them.

• Year Three Projects are developed and led by students, who develop project-management skills as a result, whilst being supervised by UCG faculty and/or outside experts. These projects create opportunities for our students to develop their professional networks at the same time as integrating information from different disciplines to find innovative solutions.