Activities at Dutch research universities to improve the orientation and binding functions of the first year

Freshman Colleges improve bond between students and professor

Five hundred new students enrol on the psychology degree programme at Utrecht University every year. Psychology degree programmes often have large numbers of students and in order to do something about the impersonal teaching environment, the decision was taken in 2007 to split this group into five Freshmen Colleges. These Colleges are subdivided into four ‘tutor groups’. Each Freshman College has its own permanent team of professors, and each tutor group has a permanent counsellor. This new approach smoothes the transition from pre-university education to university education and encourages first-year students to immediately become involved in their course of study. Students who are keen to do so can organise ‘honours’ activities in collaboration with the professors. There is an average of ten activities for each college. These activities, such as meetings with patients, always generate a great deal of interest with students.