This study aimed to examine student motivation for honors programs using two types of motivation (autonomous and controlled) of Dutch traditional students, Dutch non-traditional students, and international students. Data were collected using Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A). K-means cluster analysis with autonomous and controlled…

Excellence ('honours') programmes are a relatively new way in Dutch higher education institutions to serve the needs of talented and ambitious students, but may also serve as a testing ground for educational innovations. Using the structural ambidexterity concept, this paper investigates if and how excellence education functions as explorative…

In honours programmes, teachers face the task of designing courses in which students feel challenged and learn from accomplishing demanding assignments. The aim of this study was to investigate students' and teachers' perceptions of challenge and learning in an honours programme. From 2016 to 2019, students and teachers rated the learning…

This study considers the value of honors programs by investigating alumni perspectives of learning goals relative to personal and professional development. Using a longitudinal cross-sectional survey instrument, authors track participants (n = 79) for four consecutive years (2017-2021). Qualitative measures indicate the importance of freedom to…

Sustainability transitions need professionals with specific skills and attitudes that students often do not develop in their regular chemistry education. To foster sustainability change-maker competencies, we suggest augmenting higher education curricula, e.g., chemical degree programs, with transdisciplinary challenge-based learning combined with…

How are students selected for higher education excellence programmes in the Netherlands, and which preferences do selectors have in the selection process? This article answers this question by using a questionnaire including vignettes among fifty selectors of excellence programmes from eighteen institutions, supplemented with in-depth interviews…

Most existing studies on excellence programmes focus primarily on the characteristics of students and/or programmes. However, little is known about the effects of participation in excellence programmes on cognitive and non-cognitive outcome measures. This study uses longitudinal data on over 1,000 students from five higher education institutions…

Face-to-face contact in higher education was greatly reduced during the global health pandemic. This study examines how honors educators experienced community building with both students and colleagues during the period of emergency remote teaching. A questionnaire was developed to assess both the quality and importance of contact with students…

Having found that excellence education in Dutch higher education institutions can function as a testing ground for educational innovations, we ask the questions: Are 'excellence education' teaching methods diffused towards courses in regular study programmes? Are organisational structures affected? And are there noticeable external effects? And…

This article looks at how membership of a community impacts learning for individuals. Community membership and learning have received much attention from scholars and practitioners alike (for example, in Wolfensberger, 2012; Inkelas, Jessup-Anger, Wawrzynski, & Benjamin, 2007; Wenger, 1998). Specifically, many studies have focused on learning…

This pilot study investigates the development and delivery of a 112-hour Dutch undergraduate honors course for global citizenship education, called Society 2.0. The theory-based curriculum guidelines Global Justice Citizenship Education (GJCE) were used to build the course by a development team consisting of two teachers, two honors students, and…

Over the past three years, honors faculty at South Florida State College, a two-year college offering a limited number of workforce baccalaureates, have reinvented their program. Rather than the themed seminars and exploratory courses popular with an earlier generation, our honors courses now offer students project-based, faculty-guided…

So far, few articles about innovations in Dutch or American honors programs appear to link their findings to an existing body of research about innovations in higher education in general. Although scholars are starting to make this connection more and more (see Kallenberg; NRO, "Excellentie" and "EXChange"; NWO,…

What lecturers do and think are a prerequisite for educational change. It is therefore important to gain insight into factors that influence their involvement in educational reform. This study considers the effect of leadership and managerial constructs on lecturers' commitment to the newly implemented honours programmes in a Dutch University of…

How can undergraduate students be prepared for global citizenship? This question was investigated in a mixed-methods case study of an international, blended one-semester course. Undergraduate honors students (N = 22) from the USA and the Netherlands collaborated to explore what it means to be a member of the global community. Curriculum guidelines…