Word from the Chair: Ten Years of the BA International Studies
2022 is a major anniversary year. In September 2012 the first students signed up for the BA International Studies in The Hague. The expectation was that the new programme should ideally attract around 250 students a year. Fast forward a decade, and we have seen an annual intake of over 500 for most of that period. The BA International Studies is by far the largest BA programme in the Faculty of Humanities and in Campus The Hague, with a total student cohort of around 1600 as of June 2022. This has been a success story of major proportions.
The original plans in 2009 were somewhat different. The university wanted to create an English-language BA, combining the academic forces of the faculties of law, humanities, and social sciences. The first blueprint put forward a plan for Global Studies in Power and Communication, mixing the practical demands of problem-solving approaches with the importance of how those problems are perceived and framed across different cultures. Language training was always a central part of the plan. But the plan itself soon changed – by the end of 2009 it had been renamed International Studies, drawing on the Regional Studies expertise available across the Faculty of Humanities alone. At the time International Studies was an approach more common to universities in the United States than Europe, and there needed to be a lot of diplomacy to secure the necessary cooperation across all the different interest groups involved.
The driver behind this whole process – and it was a serious rollercoaster road through both university and ministerial bureaucracy – was our one and only Professor Richard Griffiths. He can be seen in the image below, standing on the left, introducing future International Studies students to what would become the Schouwburgstraat building. The programme began, briefly, in this building, before moving to Lange Voorhout, then to Wijnhaven, and then, in 2021, to a welcome long-term residency back in Schouwburgstraat.
I recall Richard’s early information sessions when he explained to us the planning and purpose of the programme. I knew then that only an expert of something as multi-layered as the European Union could ever attempt to create something as intricate as International Studies. I came on board in the first year, 2012-2013, to teach History North America, and did so for the following three years. Helen Steele was my colleague taking the tutorials, and it is great that Helen is still with the programme as one of the most experienced members of our team.
The programme has changed over the years. The first semester of the first year used to include the courses Configuring the World (taught by Richard Griffiths himself) and Current Issues, which involved lecturers from all of the regions. The second semester of the third year used to include a second thematic seminar, which was eventually replaced by Language in Practice and more space for PRINS. Student feedback – via student members of the Programme Board as well as via course evaluations – has always been important for adapting the curriculum and ensuring a high level of quality. The excellent quality of our teaching was confirmed when International Studies passed its accreditation in 2019 with flying colors.
Then there were the locations – we were teaching Current Issues in the Nieuwe Kerk, the Kloosterkerk and the Diligentia Theatre as the success of the programme meant there were more students than the university buildings could cope with. Only the eventual arrival of Wijnhaven solved that particular issue. The first graduation in 2015 was also held in the Nieuwe Kerk, a fabulous location for such an occasion. However, soon Nieuwe Kerk also proved to be too small for our large cohorts of graduates and their guests, and the Graduation Ceremony was moved to the impressive Pieterskerk in Leiden, where it has been held ever since. Even during the Corona period, we managed to organize two restricted but nonetheless impressive in-person ceremonies in the Pieterskerk, a memorable experience.
Remarkably, we expect to welcome our 2500th graduate in September and have thus built an impressive body of alumni in those 10 years, a network that will only keep growing in the coming years. Some of our alumni have even re-joined the programme, either as lecturers or as representatives of organisations with which we cooperate for internships or PRINS projects. Those and other stories (see Alumni Dreams) fill our hearts with pride. It is surely just a matter of time before the first prime minister or president of one of the many countries our students come from, will have a background in International Studies at Leiden University……
In all those years, our ultimate goal has remained stable: we would like to contribute to a world in which there is more understanding of and cooperation between people from different backgrounds, a world that appreciates and cherishes and makes full use of the almost limitless diversity of cultures and peoples that inhabit it. And we intend to continue doing so in the years to come!