Linking mobility to the curriculum: the Return Day

Through bi-weekly posts, staff participating in the USO project on internationalisation will share concrete teaching tools and activities through which we aim to enhance ‘tailor-made’ internationalisation.

This week: Mobility: an example from the MA International Development Studies (Geosciences).

Students in our one-year MA-programme International Development Studies (Dept. Human Geography & Planning, approx. 40 students per year, 25-40% international students) do a research oriented internship in the Global South (Africa, Asia or Latin America) of 14 weeks. Generally, students leave early February, and return from the field end of May. Upon return, adaptation to Utrecht and the programme appeared to be a complex process: some students took some additional weeks off, and some had difficulties to start thesis writing and submit their thesis on time, by mid-August. To streamline this process and remain connected to our students we introduced the Return Day, first as a one-day event, since last year we schedule two full days. Participation in this event is a compulsory element of the programme, and announced at the start of the programme. Students receive the invitation (view the programme by clicking the link below) in March.

During these two days, we learn from their experiences in the field and become familiar with their first findings. It provides a platform to our students, to exchange experiences in the field, both positive and negative, and it is an opportunity to look back. In addition, it provides space to look forward: to thesis writing (‘present your first findings in a 6:40 minute pecha kucha’) and think about the labour market (a session by Career Services and speed dating with professionals from the work field).

Both students and we are enthusiastic about the format and the outcomes, we have the idea that these days work as a collective point of departure for the last phase of the programme, the thesis writing, to ‘set the mind’ and to strengthen the community. Since the introduction of the Return Day, we hardly ever lose contact with a student. Finally, several other initiatives emerged from this Return Day, such as Thesis Writing Workshops and peer review groups, in which students discuss chapters of their thesis.

Attachment:
Invitation IDS Return Day 2015