Globalization, polarisation, and a range of issues that affect people and nature around the globe, make a strong sense of global citizenship more important than ever before. This raises all kinds of questions, it reveals needs and requires skills for understanding ourselves and others in this constantly changing world.
Active presence, a connective attitude and skills of positive engagement are considered to be the most important assets for anyone wanting to be successful in an international context. It’s exactly these three qualities that you will discover and explore in this course that many alumni described as a real-life changer.
The course offers a highly interactive exploration of active presence, connective attitude and positive engagement, through intensive exchange of ideas, perceptions, observations and experiences. You will be challenged to be curious, courageous, compassionate and committed to investigating yourself, others and the true meaning of diversity. Your findings will be jaw-dropping and heartwarming at the same time.
You should think of this course as a five-days' voyage towards mastering the skills and competencies for becoming a true global citizen by exploring communication and collaboration patterns of yourself and others.
The programme
On day 1, you will be introduced to the four-mode perspective. This universal principle entails that every challenge can be met, and every message can be delivered in four specific ways. Your skillfulness and effectiveness in communicating will quadruple overnight!
On days 2, 3 and 4 you will learn to apply the four-mode perspective as a connective attitude to engage with others, thereby boosting your collaboration and socio-cultural skills. Day 5 is dedicated to graduation ceremonies and previews of the future.
Every exercise in the course is practical, fun to do and highly educational. You will work on them with the whole group or in small teams. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, bringing you insights and capabilities that will be beneficial to you for the rest of your life.
Your discoveries and learning go beyond the duration of the course. Four weeks before the course, you are invited to download an app and enter the World of Understanding, as you can join a Circle of Understanding with your fellow participants. Those who are interested can so already enjoy a warming-up on the vibe of the course. Also, after the course, this Circle of Understanding app will offer you another 16 real-life challenges for a period of 60 days following this course. All easy and quick to execute, but fun and impactful! This highly effective way of micro-learning is currently being adopted by universities around the world to support students (and staff) in developing global citizenship and 21st-century skills.
After the course, the Circle of Understanding will offer you new and advanced challenges for a period of two months, to enable further exploration of all things learned during the course. Meanwhile, your private online platform serves as a reunion room.
The course is offered in collaboration with Ewald Theunisse, co-founder of the Academy of Understanding and Miriam Zwaan, director of education of the Academy of Understanding
The course is offered in collaboration with the Academy of Understanding.
What recent participants wrote about the course
“It was impressive to have so many interactive activities that let us learn from a very different perspective and definitely, the teachers as much as the content helped me develop more as a person, as well as have a better understanding of global citizenship”.
"Even if you have high expectations of the course, I believe it will always exceed them; also, what you learn in and outside the classroom you will cherish forever. Hope you have the curiosity, courage and compassion to start the adventure and find out what's here to learn”.
“The highlight that I will cherish forever, is having met each of you and having shared moments together in all the activities”.
Ewald Theunisse
Miriam Zwaan
We are looking for students in any discipline who believe that human understanding makes all the difference and want to train themselves in compassionate leadership, intercultural communication and collaboration. The course is open to all students from different fields of study with an interest in becoming a better person and professional.
A good command of English is necessary! Given the interactive nature of teaching, students must have the capabilities to actively contribute in class and communicate (understand and speak) in English well, ideally min level B2.
You will enter new levels in mastering Global Citizenship.
The didactical approach of this course may be quite different from what you would expect from a traditional module. Together with lecturers and professional coaches from the work field we will guide you through a meaningful and valuable experience.
The sessions in Utrecht are highly interactive, challenging and fun; you will be invited to experiment, experience, reflect and discuss. You will learn by doing and explore different perspectives, while in the meantime being offered important professional and personal insights. The course will help you integrate your existing knowledge and skills with new insights, step out of your comfort zone and develop the mind-set to improve communication and compassionate collaboration. During this learning experience, you will receive intensive coaching.
When the weather allows it, we will spend parts of the day or the whole day outside in nature.
The optional four-week taster in the Circles of Understanding app will provide you prior to the course in Utrecht every four days with a fun and memorable challenge through a private, online meeting room where you share experiences, read or watch each other’s contributions and can get acquainted before the course in Utrecht has even started.
50 hours of training, workshops, coaching, assignments.
You will be graded based on their performance during the workshops and on the assignments, assessed by means of participation, handling feedback and a reflective report. Overall level of participation and cooperation within group settings will be considered when assessing your performance. Full time attendance is required to earn the credits for this course.
Please note: You must attend all learning activities (e.g. workshops, fieldwork) to be able to receive the Certificate of Participation and/or the credits for this course, unless absence is officially approved by the teachers and the coordinator of the Utrecht Summer School.
The course fee presented, applies to all students currently enrolled in a bachelor, master or PhD programme and to 'Fresh Alumni'. If this applies to you and you therefore believe that you are eligible for this fee, please mention this in your motivation when applying for this course.
If not, a professional fee of €875 is applicable, and will be invoiced and visible for you in your account once you are accepted to the course.
Please note: if you do not provide proof that you are currently enrolled in a bachelor, master or PhD programme or that you are a Fresh Alumni', we will charge the ‘professional (higher) fee!
Lunch options
During the summer, food courts and food trucks on the campus are closed. The supermarket and restaurant are open, and in our dormitories there is a kitchen and fridge for home-made lunch. Besides we offer a 5 Days’ Sandwich Lunch package that you can collect at the restaurant on Utrecht Science Park everyday in the lunchbreak.
You can add this 5 Days’ Lunch package as a separate product once you are fully enrolled to the course. The price for the package is 60 Euros per week and can be ordered until two weeks prior to the start of your course.
The housing costs do not include a Utrecht Summer School sleeping bag and travel pillow (which you can take home after the course). Please note that the Sleeping bag is to be chosen as a separate product on the invoice (€50).
If you wish not to buy the Summerschool Sleeping bag and travel pillow and rather bring your own bedding (sleeping bag and pillow), do not forget to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow! In all cases, do bring your own towels, please.