Lecturers talk about their experiences at the Honours College:

UG lecturer of the year - the Honours College Prize

Dr. Stephan Schleim talks about his experiences at the Honours College

Dr. Schleim is an associate professor for theoretical psychology and has been working at the University of Groningen since 2009. He has been teaching for the Honours College continuously since 2011. In his interview on our intranet website, he talks about his experiences at the Honours College and his newly published book.

UG Best Practice in Teaching & Learning Award and the Honours College Award

Each year, the UG’s community gathers to celebrate good teaching and learning practices within the University. A celebration formerly known as the Teacher of the Year Award has evolved into the Best Practice Awards. The aim of this Best Practice Award is to more broadly recognize good teaching and learning practices within the University of Groningen. The winner of first place receives €5000, while the two runners-up receive €2500.

In addition to the Best Practice Award, a second prize will be awarded at the Festival: the Honours College Award, which is decided by public vote. The winner of the Honours College Award will be given the opportunity to develop and teach a course to Honours College students.

Best Practices Honours College Award 2022

Dr. Steffen Eriksen has won the Best Practice Honours College Award 2022. Dr. Eriksen has won the award for his innovative approach to blended learning during the transition to online education. Dr. Eriksen used the streaming website Twitch to stream his lectures live. He also used Youtube and Discord to create an online community that allowed students to re-watch lectures and provided them with a platform to ask questions to each other and dr. Eriksen himself. The Honours College community is pleased to congratulate dr. Eriksen on his Award!

Watch the award ceremony.

UG Lecturer of the Year Award

In years preceding the Best Practice in Teaching & Learning Award, a lecturer who has demonstrated significant involvement with their teaching and their students, has provided excellent teaching and/or has shown extraordinary commitment to curriculum development and educational innovation was awarded the Lecturer of the Year Award. The 5,00 euro prize money for the Lecturer of the Year and for the two runners-up (each 2,500 euro) was made available by the COWOG fund. The prize money was to be used as an investment for their own education (further education, conference, study trips, student assistants, etc.) In addition, the winner received a sculpture made by Joek van Draanen, and an invitation to develop and provide an education module for the Honours College.

Since 2014, the Honours College has also awarded an award to the Lecturer of the Year. The Honours College award for the Lecturer of the Year means that the lecturer may design and teach an education module to Honours College students.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the Year election 2019

Mr. dr. Berend Roorda from the Faculty of Law won this competition with his lecture about the 'Right to Protest'. Prof. Roorda received an award of 5,ooo euro from the rector. The two runners-up were dr. Méadhbh Mclvor of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, and dr. Laura Batstra of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the year election 2018

Dr. Marc Kramer was awarded the Teacher of the year award 2018. He designed a module for the Honors College students in which he read the book 'Thinking Fast And Slow' together with the students. The Honours students and Kramer replicated experiments from the book so that the students are really involved in the experiments and understand what they are about.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the year election 2017

Dr. Bettina Reitz-Joosse from the Faculty of Arts impressed the jury by her interactive mini lecture on the meaning of words and texts, and they unanimously awarded her with the much-desired title of UG Lecturer of the Year.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the Year election 2016

Dr. Malvina Nissim left behind the competition and was awarded the Lecturer of the Year 2016 title. Nissim listened a lot to podcasts and wondered how podcasts can contribute to education. For the Honours College students, she designed a module in which podcasts played a central role.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the Year election 2015

Prof. dr. Niels Taatgen won the University of Groningen Lecturer of the Year 2015. The professor of Cognitive Modelling at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences was awarded the Jury Prize on Education Day. Prof. Taatgen wanted to expose students to new ways of thinking about science. In his classes, he introduced the subject Formal Systems. The Audience Award was won by Dr Erin Wilson of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, and Dr Riemer Vegter of the Faculty of Medical Sciences/UMCG received most votes in the internet election and thus won the Web Award.

Winner RUG Lecturer of the Year election 2014

One of the first teachers to give a self-designed Honours module to students was prof. dr. A.J.W. Anton Scheurink. Prof. Scheurink wanted to teach Honours students more about addiction. However, he did not know much about the subject of addiction. He studied this subject by designing an educational module about addiction for the Honours College students.