1. 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

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

3. 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)

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. 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’

8. 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’

9. 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’

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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
Vivian

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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 Aug 2020

18. CoTalent project
Associate partner
Vivian

19. 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

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

21. CoTalent products
Caro & Judith

22. Caro & Judith