Yearly educational conference Institute of Public Administration
Thursday 18 January, the annual educational conference for the staffmembers of the Institute of Public Administration took place. This year it was about research-based learning. The conference was divided in three parts: research-based learning in Public Administration programs, organising Master theses supervision, and lastly the future of the Master programmes were discussed
The day started off with a presentation about what research-based learning is and why it matters by Mayke Vereijken. After that, the group split up into the three programs, Ba, MPA and MPS, and discussed research-based learning and other issues in their program. After lunch, the three tracks presented their conclusions to eachother.
In the afternoon, there were two issues represented. The first issue was if master thesis capstones should be coordinated within a track, to which the answer was no, with side notes that the capstones should be general and there should be clear communication about the required knowledge for that capstone. The second issue was what to do with students that do not finish on time: should they stay with their supervisor, or be assigned to a different supervisor? Most people agreed that they should stay with their supervisor, with some interesting side notes brought up in the debate.
The last part was a brainstorm session about possible new master tracks and programs, in which many different ideas were brought up. The productive and interesting conference was ended with some refreshments and a challenge for many to face the storm.