Amsterdam University College
Published 27 August 2009

Honours programmes VU, UvA and AUC

Both VU University Amsterdam (VU) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) offer an Honours programme for talented and motivated bachelor students of the VU and UvA. Students who are selected for the Honours programme at their own department have the opportunity both to invest more time in their own area of study and to broaden their horizon. Honours students take courses within their own department and interdepartmental courses for a total of 30 extra credits. Most courses of the Honours programmes are taught in English. Graduates receive a Bachelor Honours degree.

It is possible for students of Amsterdam University College (AUC) to take an elective in one of the Honours programmes of the VU and UvA, and Honours students of VU and UvA will have the opportunity to take an elective of the Bachelor Liberal Arts and Sciences of AUC.

For more information on the VU and UvA honours courses available during the second semester of the 2011-2012 academic year, please follow the links below.

VU, UvA and AUC students that would like to register for one of the interdepartmental honours courses should use the registration form below (available 2 December 2011).

AUC students please note that you should contact your tutor before you register for an UvA / VU honours course (see Information Sheet Honours Courses on Blackboard).

VU/UvA honours students

Before you register for an AUC honours course, please read the following information carefully:

  • Please note that most AUC courses are taught during the day. A link to the timetable will appear on this website as soon as it is available (late December/early January). Almost all courses meet twice a week (1.5 hours per class).
  • AUC’s attendance policy
    Please note that attendance is mandatory. You are allowed to only miss 5 classes during the entire semester (= 5 of the 32 classes).
  • Course levels
    In reading the course descriptions of the various courses, you may notice that all courses have a particular level and also that they list a number of prerequisites. AUC offers courses at 3 different levels: 100-level courses, 200-level courses and 300-level courses. You could see 100-level courses as introductory courses that most AUC students take in their first year and 300-level courses as the highest-level courses that most AUC students take in their third and final year.
  • Prerequisites
    The prerequisites essentially form the entry requirements that students need to meet to be able to follow a course. These prerequisites refer to other courses in the AUC curriculum that a student needs to have taken before he or she can follow a particular course. However, because you are not an AUC student, you will probably not have taken any of the prerequisites. This is why we would like to ask you to read the course descriptions of the prerequisites carefully to determine whether you think you have sufficient background knowledge to take part in honours course of your choice (i.e. ask yourself whether the courses you've taken so far would qualify you for the course). If you are in doubt, please send an email to the AUC honours contact person: Dr. Mariëtte Willemsen.
  • Limited number of places available: take registration seriously.
    Please note that all honours courses have a limited number of places: only 25 students per course. AUC reserves a number of places for the VU/UvA students in each of the courses that we make available. Please note that we save these spaces especially for you. This is why we would like to ask you to think carefully before you sign up: if you register for a course, we also expect you to finish the course and not drop it after a few sessions. Bear in mind that most of the AUC honours courses have waiting lists, which means that if you drop the course after a few sessions, it will be too late for another honours student or AUC student to join the course.

VU / UvA Honours courses semester 2

For the Honours courses organised by the VU and UvA in 2011/2012, see the link below.

AUC Honours Courses

AUC is offering sixteen interdepartmental honours courses during the intensive (January) period and the second semester of the 2011-2012 Academic Year. The intensive period is 4 weeks long and runs from 9 January to 3 February.

The 2nd Semester is 20 weeks long, and runs from 6 February 2012 to 29 June 2012. There are no classes 30 April to 6 May.

Intensive period (9 January - 3 Februrary 2012)
Environmental Chemistry and Eco-Toxicology (4 places): MON 10-1, TUE 10-1, THU 10-1, FRI 10-1.
Modern Philosophical Texts: Nietzsche (4 places): TUE 10-1, WED 10-1, THU 10-1, FRI 10-1.

 Humanities honours courses

  • Modernism and Postmodernism in Theory and Fiction (3 places available for UvA/VU honours students): MON 9.00-10.30, THU 13.45-15.15
  • Fiction and Finance through History (4 places): TUE 16-17.30, FRI 11.00-12.30
  • Representing the City through History (4 places): MON 16-17.30, THU 11.00-12.30

 Social Science honours courses

  • Environmental and Resource Management (4 places): TUE 11.00-12.30, FRI 16.00-17.30
  • Medical Anthropology (4 places): MON 11.00-12.30, THU 16.00-17.30
  • Advanced Macroeconomics (4 places) : TUE 16-17.30, FRI 11-12.30
  • Urban Life and Society (4 places): TUE 9.00-10.30, FRI 13.45-15.15

 Academic Core honours courses

  • Amsterdam in the Golden Age (4 places): TUE 16-17.30, FRI 11-12.30
  • Ethics (4 places): TUE 11.00-12.30, FRI 16.00-17.30
  • Philosophy (4 places): TUE 13.45-15.15, FRI 9.00-10.30

 Science honours courses

  •  International Public Health (4 places): MON 16.00-17.30, THU 11.00-12.30
  • Text Mining and Collective Intelligence (4 places): TUE 11.00-12.30, FRI 16.00-17.30
  • Modelling Real World Problems (2 places): MON 11.00-12.30, THU 16.00-17.30
  • Genomics and Bioinformatics (4 places): TUE 11.00-12.30, FRI 16.00-17.30

For more information on the individual courses, please follow the links below.

Source: AUC
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