The European Honors Council: Research and exchange on honors programs in Europe Vivian 6. Münsterscher Bildungskongress 20 September 2018 Vivian M. van Gerven, ICBF & Maarten Hogenstijn, Hanze UAS (Netherlands) Carolin Böckers & Judith Wenker, WWU Münster

Why? The need for talent development programs does not stop once you reach higher education Vivian Never stop learning – because life never stops teaching!

What is an Honors Program? “Honors programs are selective study programs linked to higher education institutions. They are designed for motivated and gifted students who want to do more than the regular program offers. These programs have clear admission criteria and clear goals and offer educational opportunities that are more challenging and demanding than regular programs.” Vivian Wolfensberger (2015, p. 12)

Genesis of Research project about special provisions for gifted and talented students in Higher Education in Europe. 11 countries were studied: Benelux: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg Nordic: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland German-speaking countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland Vivian

Talent development in higher education: location of programs (Wolfensberger, 2015) Maarten

Overview of Honors in Eleven Countries Country HEIs researched in total HEIs with honors programs Austria 22 3 Belgium 11 4 Denmark 16 6 Finland 14 Germany 110 17 Iceland 7 Luxembourg 1 Netherlands 52 39 Norway 18 Sweden 31 Switzerland 21 Total 303 72 Maarten

Benefits for institutions Honors provides a stimulating education and research environment. For the institution, it forms a: Distinguishing feature in attracting the best staff and students Laboratory of innovation in teaching and research Positive influence on position on rankings Stimulating environment for relation to broader society: through social projects, business involvement, etc. Maarten ‘The honors program has served as a kind of incubator for all kinds of good teaching initiatives’

Benefits for teaching staff Participation in (the design of) an honors program enables staff to: Develop their braveness to be excellent teachers Interact with the best students in new roles Design laboratories for educational innovation Give room to their innovating and pioneering ideas ‘The opportunity to work with people who are so talented is extremely rewarding’

Benefits for students Participation in an honors program enables students to: activate autonomy and self-regulated learning stimulate creativity and personal drive enhance innovative thinking and deal with complex situations foster a stimulating community kick start their career in science or elsewhere with good results ‘The honors program helped me to learn to critically reflect, set up my own projects and think outside of the box. In my current Ph.D. project I can use this experience to my advantage’

Honors in Europe Inventory of Eleven countries, altogether 72 programs at 303 Higher Education Institutions Book published in open access at Springer Around 75,000 downloads since 2015 Phases 2 and 3: Southern and Eastern Europe The need for international exchange Maarten

Exchange Expanding network to > 200 members Bi-monthly newsletter Journal of the EHC Grant applications Lobbying Maarten

What we offer: opportunities for exchange of knowledge and good practices possibilities for student and teacher exchange at honors level joint research projects a platform to support the development of (structural embeddedness of) honors programs in national education systems Compared to existing networks, the EHC offers: Focus on talent development and honors in higher education Focus on programs that are designed for students who can and want to do more than the regular program offers Maarten

Network Goals 1. Supporting and stimulating development of honors education and its structural embeddedness in the education system 2. Creating a common language 3. Supporting teacher professionalization (within honors) 4. Creation and exchange of knowledge about honors programs 5. Stimulating and facilitating research about honors 6. Enabling networking for people involved in honors 7. Stimulating spin-off of successful honors practices to regular education 8. Promoting an easier flow of talented students from secondary to higher education 9. Stimulating professional development of honors students and connection to working life / research career 10. Stimulating collaboration and inspiring student exchange at honors level Vivian

EHC Membership You can now become an individual member of the European Honors Council and be kept up-to-date and involved in all this is happening in the field of talent development in higher education throughout Europe. Membership is open to all involved and interested. Information is needed to further build the EHC. Therefore, to join the EHC, you fill out a short questionnaire about yourself, your interests and programs you are connected to (if applicable). Membership is free (for the foreseeable future). The membership questionnaire can be found at www.honorscouncil.eu Vivian

The Acting Board Vivian Left to right: Astrid Fritz, Christian Fischer, Ron Weerheijm, Pieter Veenstra, Marca Wolfensberger, Nils O. Andersen, Marleen Eyckmans, Maarten Hogenstijn. Not on picture: Victor Müller-Oppliger, Vivian van Gerven

The Journal The aim of the Journal of the European Honors Council is to share research results, knowledge and good practices related to talent development and honors programs in higher education. Peer-reviewed papers and edited notes Published online in full open access In Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) Started in 2017, three issues published so far Maarten www.jehc.eu

Working in Europe to Connect Talent Development in Higher Education CoTalent project Working in Europe to Connect Talent Development in Higher Education Vivian Subsidized under Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships Higher Education, Sept 2017- Aug 2020

CoTalent project Associate partner Vivian

CoTalent products Our main product is the CoTalent Wizard, which consists of three intellectual outputs: 1. The MeTalent Mirror, helping teachers to self-evaluate and develop their views towards talent development; 2. The YouTalent Spotter, helping teachers to spot talented students; 3. The CoTalent e-Library, providing a basis to implement a research-based talent development program in higher education institutions. Vivian

CoTalent Workshop Week – June 2018 CoTalent products CoTalent Workshop Week – June 2018 Caro & Judith

CoTalent products Caro & Judith

Caro & Judith