LUC The hagUe ProfiLe 1

For Wallace, and for us, the real point of this story (and of liberal arts and sciences)
is to be critical about our awareness of ourselves and our certainties. He
claims that most of the things he takes for granted or believes automatically in
the world turn out to be wrong or untrue. And that there are many things in the
world (like water for those two fish) that we simply don’t notice, no matter how
essential they may be to our existence, either because we’re not thinking properly
or because they conflict with something else we’re thinking about/interested in.
So, a liberal arts education is not only about learning to think, but also, more
deeply, about learning ‘how to exercise some control over how and what you
think’ about. ‘It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you
pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.’
Freedom is about choice and awareness of choice … choice of how to BE in the
world.
So, liberal arts and sciences at LUC The Hague is about free-thinking, creative
and critical students who aim to make a difference in the world, be it working in
sexy, high-profile places like the UN, or NATO, or a government, corporation or
university. But, it’s also about living in and contributing to the everyday world
around us in the best way possible. In the words of David Foster Wallace:
‘The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and
discipline, and being able to truly care about other people and to sacrifice for
them over and over in myriad, petty, unsexy ways everyday.’
College Organisation
LUC The Hague is the international honours college of Leiden University, based
in the Faculty of Campus Den Haag. It is a core part of the university’s honours
college and excellence trajectory. LUC is organizationally connected with the
rest of the university in a number of ways: the Dean of LUC sits on the Honours
Council in Leiden; the Dean of LUC is advised by LUC’s Academic Advisory
Board (which is composed of senior members of the other Faculties in Leiden);
and the Dean of LUC sits on the Faculty Board of Campus Den Haag.
The Dean is responsible for the academic leadership of LUC The Hague. He
is assisted in servicing that responsibility by a team of academic and support
staff, and, of course, by the students. As a college, all members of LUC share in
responsibility for its success.
In terms of academic management, the Dean chairs LUC’s Academic Board,
which comprises the two Directors of Studies (BA and BSc) and a student representative.
This body is responsible for the academic trajectory and strategy of
LUC as a whole. The Academic Board meets every two weeks.
At the level of general management, the Dean relies on the members of the
Management Meeting, which includes the chairpersons of all committees and
the holders of all institutional budgets. The Management Meeting occurs once
every month.
At the level of academic implementation, the management of the college relies
on a series of committees. Matters pertaining to the content and coherence of
LUC’s majors and minors are discussed in the Majors & Minors Council, under
the responsibility of the Directors of Studies. For technical questions about the
implementation of LUC’s Academic Rules & Regulations and the standardization
of assessment practices, the Examinations Committee is responsible under
the leadership of its chair; the ExCie is not a policy-making body but an implementation
body. For matters related to academic student welfare and tutorial
practice, the Tutorial Council is in charge, under the responsibility of the Senior
Tutor. The Staff-Student Committee serves as a formal interface between the
concerns of the faculty and students of LUC - it performs evaluations of classes
and the programme as a whole, and its chair is responsible for issuing advice to
the Dean.
In terms of general management there are a cluster of administrative departments,
including the Department of Public Relations & Marketing (headed by the Manager
of PR&M), Department of Office Management (headed by the Officer Manager),
and the Department of Student Affairs (headed by the Directors of Studies).
There are a number of other organs in LUC, such as the College Assembly,
which brings together all members of the college at least once per semester
for discussion and information sharing, and some of the committees have
sub-committees. Information on all these bodies and their membership can be
found on our website.
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