During the Dies Natalis, Dr. Jet Bussemaker (Minister of Education, Culture and Science), in a dialogue with AUC students and alumni, officially launched  the initiative of the University Colleges in the Netherlands to establish a teaching track (educatieve minor) in a project financially supported by the Ministry, allowing the best students to graduate as qualified secondary-school teachers as part of their Bachelor degree.

Hetty Vlug on behalf of Drs. Simone Kukenheim (Alderperson for Education, City of Amsterdam) emphasised the importance of such a teacher training track, as Amsterdam also needs more and better teachers. She also presented AUC’s 2014 Community Service Award for the best Community Project to Luana Carretto's (AUC student) Taste Before You Waste. 

Prof. Dr. Marijk van der Wende (AUC Dean) presented the AUC's 2014 Awards for Excellence to Dora Achourioti, RMA, MSc (teacher of the year), Danu Thung (student of the year), Dr. Cor Zonneveld (tutor of the year), and Gillian Luisman (support staff of the year).

His Excellency Timothy Broas (US Ambassador to the Netherlands), highlighted the importance of liberal arts and science education for both academic and professional careers, and congratulated the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam on the five year anniversary of their unique and successful partnership.

The AUC Scholarship Fund sponsor’s address was given by Dr. Marieke Spee (AkzoNobel), who emphasised that excellence, diversity and interdisciplinarity are crucial in order to get your “ticket to the world” and to employment in the 21st century.

Following the formal Dies Natalis, AUC transformed the grounds around the iconic AUC building into an AUC Arts & Sciences Campus Festival. The Festival featured students, faculty, alumni, sponsors, partners, and friends of AUC in a lively and varied programme of lectures, debates, musical performances, artistic presentations, demonstrations, experiments, and games of all kinds.

Images from the AUC Arts and Science Lustrum festival