Dr. Marca V.C. Wolfensberger Talent Development in European Higher Education Honors Programs in the Benelux, Nordic and German-Speaking Countries Talent Development in European Higher Education Dr. Marca V.C. Wolfensberger Talent Development in European Higher Education Honors Programs in the Benelux, Nordic and German-Speaking Countries Marca V.C. Wolfensberger Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen & Utrecht University The Netherlands The Sirius Program assigned Marca Wolfensberger to carry out this research. Cartography: C&M-Carto - Geosciences - UU [8684]. ISBN 978-3-319-12918-1 ISBN 978-3-319-12919-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12919-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015931650 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2015 . The book is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. Open Access This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. All commercial rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broad- casting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword Education is a fi eld that is prone to waves of popular initiatives and priorities, some of them transformative and lasting, others the source of persistent debate and scru- tiny, and some gone the way of dinosaurs in the shifting landscape of pedagogical research and practice. One topic that has received continuous and considerable attention over many years is how to encourage, support, and reward talent develop- ment among highly motivated, high-achieving students. Interestingly, much of the scholarship in the fi eld has been directed at gifted programs for youths in grade schools and high schools, where issues of differentiation have persisted over time. In higher education, most of the work has come from the area of honors education in the United States, with the leadership of the National Collegiate Honors Council as a chief advocate. Broadened beyond the academic realm, the quest for excellence has given rise to innumerable centers and consulting services that proport to foster talent development in personal, social, government, corporate, and other domains. For example, a simple web search will produce countless links to specialized offi ces at dozens of colleges and universities which support talent development in schools and communities; likewise, the list of organizations and consulting fi rms that focus on nurturing creativity, innovation, and all sorts of talent is astonishingly vast. Undoubtedly, talent development, a drive for excellence not just in academic accomplishments but also in one’s contributions to society at large, is front and center in today’s world. Dutch scholar, teacher, and researcher Marca Wolfensberger—who holds dual appointments at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen Research Centre for Talent Development in Higher Education and Society and at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences—has made great strides in putting the topic near the top of national concerns not only in the Netherlands but also in other European countries, complementing the long history of honors and gifted education research and programming in the United States. Wolfensberger’s earlier dissertation monograph on Teaching for Excellence: Honors Pedagogies Revealed (Waxmann, 2012) situated her as perhaps the leading interna- tional voice on honors, one of the credentials which landed her among a select group of prestigious National Collegiate Honors Council Fellows. This book, Talent Development in European Higher Education: Honors Programs in the Benelux, v vi Foreword Nordic, and German-Speaking Countries , adds an important chapter in the growing studies dedicated to strategies for enhancing teaching and learning in programs intentionally designed for high- performing students with strong academic records as well as those who reveal the characteristics and promise of excellence if pre- sented with the additional or different challenges that promote deeper, more sig- nifi cant learning in honors. Springboarding off her close connections within the National Collegiate Honors Council and her acquired knowledge of more than fi ve decades of innovations in honors teaching and learning, Wolfensberger’s report of how honors and the talent development agenda have begun to sprout all over Europe is an important contribution that reminds us of the obligation we have in higher education to help all our students reach their highest potential, particularly if they are among our most capable who deserve the specialized pedagogical approaches that address their needs. The recent expansions of the National Collegiate Honors Council in promoting the value of honors education internationally and in building an increasing professional network of institutions nationwide and abroad are testi- mony to the rising interests both in the United States and around the world in fi nding sound, effective ways of aspiring to excellence in higher education. The book is a wake-up call in some respects, an affi rmation of what European nations are doing to inspire academic excellence in diverse institutions and what we may look forward to in the future as the movement spreads throughout Europe and other continents, where already progress is evident in Asia, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. The book is an ambitious undertaking, comprising 5 parts and 17 chapters that reveal the growing trend in Europe to establish new approaches to policies and pro- grams for inspiring excellence among motivated, bright students. After inspecting the special opportunities available to almost four million students at over 300 insti- tutions in 11 countries, Wolfensberger’s research discloses that at least 72 colleges and universities have some kind of honors program in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Austria. Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Switzerland do not currently have honors programs, but they are not far behind the swell of interest in their neighboring countries. Wolfensberger’s discoveries compel all of us in the higher education honors community to seek more robust methods of collaboration across our different programs and countries. The National Collegiate Honors Council is the primary professional honors organization in the United States, existing since the 1960s, and soon we hope to see more avenues for student and faculty development opportunities as well as professional and organiza- tional networking as honors continues to grow across the globe. As two leaders in the National Collegiate Honors Council, we could not be more pleased by Wolfensberger’s discoveries. The rich possibilities for study-travel con- sortiums, faculty and student collaborations, shared research and scholarship, and combined efforts to infl uence national policies governing educational strategic plans and legislative priorities across diverse countries are exciting. Already, in 2012 and 2013, honors teachers, scholars, and students; government offi cials; and industry leaders have met in the Netherlands for two major, international confe- rences on honors, talent development, and excellence in academics and society in Foreword vii general. The Sirius Programme network, established in Holland in 2008 with extraordinary federal funding to promote and nationally subsidize the spread of honors programs across the country, has seen remarkable success, launching an abundance of varied honors programs at 14 research universities and 25 universities of applied sciences. In fact, Dutch institutions constitute about half of all the schools with honors programs which are the focus of Wolfensberger’s study in 11 countries. Even with the end of federal funding for the Sirius network, honors research, curricula, teaching, and learning continue to fl ourish in the Netherlands, clearly the front runner in the vanguard of honors education in Europe. Our international colleagues have learned much from the National Collegiate Honors Council and the amazing variety of honors programs and colleges in the United States, but we have much to learn from the diverse cultural characteristics and operational approaches and standards of honors in Europe. Clearly, in the European context, research-driven approaches to honors pedagogy