Highlights
Only academic leisure programme in the Netherlands
Although there are a number of higher education programmes in the Netherlands in the field of leisure management, Leisure Studies is the only academic programme that trains you in this field. It is quite different from a professional degree programme.
In an academic programme, you will look at issues from a broader societal perspective. You will learn how to use scientific theories and models to solve these issues, and you will conduct active research. You will be trained for a more strategic role, in which analytical skills and critical reflection - skills related to a scientific approach - are paramount.
Moreover, an academic degree will offer you more flexibility in the job market, because you will have learned to think from a broader perspective. A professional degree programme prepares you to work in the leisure sector in an operational or managerial position. You will work on practical assignments that give you initial experience of working in such a position. What’s more, a professional degree programme involves working in project groups rather than individually.
Teaching by real scientists
Knowledge about leisure does not stand still. New discoveries are made every day by a community of researchers around the world. The lecturers whose courses you take are active members of this community and regularly publish their findings in the scientific literature.
As a student, you can contribute to this by working as a research assistant on ongoing research projects and by conducting your own research while writing your bachelor’s thesis, under the supervision of one of our research-active lecturers. In this way, together with our lecturers, you will contribute to the development of knowledge in the field of leisure and everything related to it.
Exchange or placement
In the third year of the programme, you will have the opportunity to undertake a national or international exchange at one of our partner universities or a work placement in the leisure field. In recent years, for example, students have been on exchanges to Edinburgh in Scotland or Krakow in Poland. Some students have also been on exchange to Tilburg University.
Students who opted for a placement were hosted by organisations such as the World Leisure Organisation in Bilbao (Spain), Landal GreenParks Het Vennenbos in Hapert (Netherlands) and Amsterdam Dance Event in Amsterdam (Netherlands). You can make your own choice between an exchange or a placement, depending on how you want to develop in the final year of your bachelor's programme.