Minister Timmermans guest of honour at Opening of the Academic Year

On Monday 1 September, Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans will be guest of honour at the traditional Opening of the Academic Year at the University of Groningen. The opening ceremony will take place for the first time in the Martinikerk in Groningen.

In addition to speeches by Timmermans and Rector Magnificus Elmer Sterken, the ceremony will also comprise the official opening of University College Groningen (UCG). UCG will be the University of Groningen’s tenth faculty, offering an English-taught Bachelor’s degree programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences. The students will live and study at a campus on the Hoendiepskade. Thirty-three students form the first UCG cohort, and the aim is to increase this number to about 100 students.

Presentation of Guyot Prize

During the opening ceremony the Guyot Prize will be presented to Prof. Karen Steel. The Guyot Prize is named after Henri Daniel Guyot, who founded the first institute for the deaf in the Netherlands in Groningen in 1790. Guyot’s grandson bequeathed a legacy to the University of Groningen with the aim of awarding a prize once every five years to a researcher who has made an important discovery in the field of otology. The first time the prize was awarded was in 1914.

See also: the full programme of the Opening of the Academic Year 2014.