Testimonials
In my experience the seminars are very fun because you really get to talk about the material on a deeper level.
- Previous education
- t-vwo at Dorenweerd College te Doorwerth
- Programme
- English Language and Culture
- Study start date
- Study end date
Why did you choose Radboud University?
When I first visited the open day i immediately felt welcomed. The atmosphere is very welcoming and easygoing. Whenever I spoke with students or lecturers they just seemed very down to earth and I felt like I could see myself walking around here for the next few years. I also liked the way Radboud offered the programme; since the study programme is split into English Language and Culture and American Studies, there is a very clear focus on British culture and British English. I really liked that.
How did you experience the transition from high school to university?
I believe the transition from high school to uni is and will always be difficult, but the university definitely helped. There is a mentoring programme where you get assigned a mentor, who is one of your teachers, and they sit down with you in the beginning and talk about the practical aspects. You discuss planning and things like that, but your mentor is also someone you can come to with any personal things you run into. This helped me a lot. Having a person who can help you navigate the university life is really helpful. Additionally you are assigned a student mentor, who can also help you with practical issues that you would not go to your mentor for. Think for instance when you do not know in which building a class is or when you do not understand how to borrow the books from the library.
What do you like about the Bachelor's programme? And has the programme also challenged you?
What I really like is how many different aspects of the language you are taught. When you choose to study English, people often imagine you are taught the proper grammar and pronunciation, and you have to read a lot of literature. Though this is somewhat true, there is a whole different aspect that you will also study. You also dive deep into linguistics, which includes phonetics (the study of how sound is made) and syntax ( how sentences are formed). This did challenge me because it is really something new. Most first year students will have no previous knowledge, so you have to put in a lot of work to learn and understand these subjects. Furthermore, you will also learn about old English and how the language changed. Additionally you learn about the current culture and socio-political climate in the UK. All in all it is a very diverse study programme.
What do you think about the atmosphere in class?
There is a very positive atmosphere. For most subjects there are lectures and seminars. The lectures are what people typically expect from a university. These take place in big halls and you spend most of the time taking notes. These are not very interactive, though if you have questions you can definitely ask them.
The seminars are a lot more similar to the classes you have in high school in the way they are structured. They are very interactive. You are expected to have prepared for the seminars so you can discuss the material. In my experience the seminars are very fun because you really get to talk about the material on a deeper level. During the seminars you also get to talk to the teachers and your classmates a lot more and get to know them, which is really nice. In my experience, the teachers in our programme are very nice and interested in knowing their students. Most of your seminar teachers will know your name and that creates a very nice environment in which I feel very comfortable learning and asking questions if I do not understand something.
What are your plans once you have received your Bachelor’s degree?
Personally I would like to become a teacher, which is very easy to do because of the Radboud Docenten Academie (Radboud Teachers Academy). I am planning on doing and educational minor, which means that I will be licensed to teach the lower years of secondary school immediately upon receiving my Bachelor's degree. However, I am in the minority among my classmates. Most of them are looking into the very extensive amount of Master's programmes you can follow after getting your Bachelor's.
Are you involved with the study association of your programme?
I am very involved in my study association, G.A.G. I am actually treasurer of my association, meaning I am part of the board. Before my board year I was also very involved as member of the yearbook committee. Our association has a lot of committees where you can express your hobbies. We have a creative writing committee and a drama committee. If you do not want the responsibility of being a member of a committee there are also various other activities you can join. There are parties and pub quizzes as well as an open room twice a week during which members can come into the board room and usually we will just drink tea and play games or chat. The study association is a really great way to get into contact with your fellow English students. I have made many friends through the association.
What do you like about Nijmegen?
I like that it feels quite small. It is easy to navigate and not as daunting as some bigger cities are. It is also really a student city. Due to this it has a very lively night life. There is always a party somewhere.
What would you advise students when choosing a study programme?
Visit as many open days as you can and make a pro-con list. Then choose a top 3 and sign up for Bachelor's Experience Days or to be a Student for a Day. This will allow you to really see the vibe of the city and the study you are thinking of. Then just pick the one that feels best to you.
Make the most of your time by broadening your experience and finding out who you are and what directions you want to explore in the nearby future.
- Programme
- English Language and Culture
Can you introduce yourself?
After doing a PhD on representations of tragic subjectivity in early modern plays by English women in Groningen (2003), I lectured in English and American studies at the universities of Groningen and Leiden for a couple of years. In 2007 I was appointed as an Asssistant Professor in English Literature at Radboud University.
During my years here at Radboud I have taught 17th and 18th- century British Literature, a course on early modern drama, Fools and Furies, as well as courses such as Beyond Britishness and 19th and 20th-century British Literature. As I further developed my expertise in Irish and Irish diasporic literature and culture over the years, I integrated this field in Beyond Britishness, research seminars and the current MA Literary Studies course on Memory. Furthermore, in the past I developed and ran various MA courses on Irish Literature. In the Research MA I taught Contemporary Debates and a course called Regionalism and Beyond for many years.
In 2010 I was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for Consolidators for a project on the cultural memories of Ireland’s Great Famine in fiction, which, amongst others, resulted in my monograph Relocated Memories: The Great Famine in Irish and Diaspora Fiction, 1846-1870 (Syracuse UP, 2017). Ever since I have ran a Great Irish Famine Studies network at Radboud University, as well as an international network on the Dublin Gate Theatre (together with my colleague Ruud van den Beuken), all funded by the Dutch Research Council
NWO.
With a group of colleagues, I am forming an EFACIS Irish Studies Centre at Radboud. We regularly host writers and artists from Ireland, as part of the Irish itinerary.
Since 2019 I have been leading two big research projects, funded by an NWO VICI grant and an NWA grant. In January 2020 I was appointed as Full Professor in Irish Literature in Transnational Contexts.
Why did you choose to study in this field? What makes this field so interesting?
During my teenage years, I developed a strong interest in languages and writing. I also very much enjoyed reading novels and poetry. I decided to go for English Language and Culture at the University of Groningen, because I was greatly attracted to English culture and loved works by Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and the Brontë sisters.
English studies is a broad discipline which looks beyond Britain in the language variations and literatures that it examines, to include Canada, Australia, Ireland and the Caribbean, amongst others. English studies enables students to learn about imperialism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism and migration, amongst others. As such, it is an exciting field of study through which students learn about contexts related to present-day issues, such as Brexit, the legacies of settler colonialism, and conflicted postcolonial societies.
What do you like best about being a lecturer?
Making students enthusiastic about English literature and culture; generating further awareness among them about the interaction between literature, culture and societal issues. And additionally, letting students discover their own interests and talents.
What are you currently doing your own research on?
My research field is primarily Irish and Irish diasporic literature and culture. I am currently leading two big projects funded by the Dutch Research Council, NWO. The first is a VICI project entitled Redefining the Region and studies representations of local colour in the press and in fiction in Europe and North America, during the long nineteenth century. Within this larger project I am especially interested in writings on Irish regions by Revival authors such as Jane Barlow and Katharine Tynan.
My second project, funded by an NWA grant, builds forth on my expertise in the legacies of Ireland’s Great Famine, and is called Heritages of Hunger. It researches how European famines taking place between 1845-1947 have been and are presently being mediated in classroom teaching, commemoration and museum practices.
What advice do you have for students making their study choice?
Follow your own interests first and foremost. There are more job opportunities after your graduation than you could possibly imagine now. So I recommend following your passions in choosing your study programme. Once you have started your studies, it is also worth exploring how you may broaden your knowledge, through minor programmes but certainly also a term abroad or an internship. Make the most of your time by broadening your experience and finding out who you are and what directions you want to explore in the nearby future.
That is the benefit of doing any education: finding out who you are along the way.
- Programme
- English Language and Culture
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Usha Wilbers and I am an Associate Professor of English Literature, working in the BA English Language and Culture, Master Literary Studies and the Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies Research Master. I have been teaching English literature at Radboud since 2002 and for several years now have tutored students in the Research Master. It is incredibly rewarding to help students find their way through the programme and guide them to develop their own expertise, and become more clear about their future goals - whether they be inside academia or in the wider work field.
Why did you choose to study/work in this field? What makes this field so interesting?
Ever since I read Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights as a teenager I felt that spending my work days analysing and discussing English literature would be a dream job - and in many ways, it is!
What are you currently doing your own research on?
I started out as a periodical scholar and wrote my PhD dissertation on the American literary journal The Paris Review - an exciting project that led me from the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg to the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. After I obtained my PhD, I developed expertise in reception studies and literary criticism, and since 2015 I have been working on contemporary British fiction, and literary Metamodernism especially. I am a co-founder of the European Society for Periodical Studies and of the AHRC Metamodernism Network, which has allowed me to work with researchers all over Europe - another very rewarding part of my job! At the moment I am working on a book project related to glocal metamodernisms, as well as writing about the return of Modernism in contemporary British fiction. As Metamodernism is still a relatively new concept, I haven't had a moment over the last 10 years when I wasn't working on new projects. It is exciting to be a literary scholar!
What advice do you have for students making their study choice?
As you can read from my testimonial, I was lucky enough to be able to build my work life on my passion for literature, and I would advise students to find out in which discipline or expertise they would feel most at home. I would also advise them that not knowing what that passion is, is perfectly okay: that is the benefit of doing any education - finding out who you are along the way.
Your study allows you to get in touch with a variey of career paths and you'll figure out what's for you in time.
- Programme
- English Language and Culture
- Study end date
Where do you work now and what does your job entail?
I'm a self-employed musician. I was always in bands during my literary studies, and after finishing my MA (which I did in Utrecht) I quickly realised that I couldn't apply for a full-time job because my bands were already taking up so much of my time. I ended up pursuing that and now I make most of my income playing music and working on my bands.
Why did you choose to work in this field?
I turned my passion into my job. It was kind of inevitable, really. I remember showing up to my classes carrying instruments because I had rehearsals right after my classes.
What did you learn during your studies that you now use in your work?
I learned how to write lots of text quickly and adequately, which is very useful when I write lyrics for my songs, content for the Patreon of one of my bands, or artist interviews or press releases. Many of my musical colleagues struggle with text for hours while I can get it done in minutes.
I also understand the field of cultural production and the position of the artist in the world on an academic level. And I was also allowed to study the relationship of an artist with their art. All of these things are not only fascinating, but I'm now also able to create my own art with more knowledge and in a much healthier way.
How did you experience this programme at Radboud University? In your opinion, what made this programme special?
I remember fondly that the programme allowed me to really see what kind of academic careers and options there are. I could often see what's out there and what kind of specialties I could pursue. It doesn't keep you confined in the academic bubble but shows you the possible doors to the real world.
What would you recommend to future students when they go to choose a study?
Don't worry about what kind of job you'll get out of it. A study gives you many different skills that are all widely applicable in a vast number of different fields. I was 18 years old when I started my BA and that's way too young to have a path figured out. Your study allows you to get in touch with a variety of career paths and you'll figure out what's for you in time.
Parents and family members often obsess over your career and want you to know where you're heading. It's difficult to give them "I don't know yet" as an answer. But I found that that's the reality for most students that start a BA: they don't know yet and they often don't figure it out until late in their MA's, like myself.
As for me, I wasn't cut out for a conservatory or anything like that, and my studies gave me many skills that I can now use in my bands. I can read, write, and think about text quicker than most of my bandmates, and I also understand art and the field of cultural production in a unique way. It often gives me useful perspectives to offer for creative or business decisions.
So in conclusion: don't worry about it. You'll figure it out. And don't worry about your family that is stressed about you not having it figured out yet.
I enjoyed editing; it was a passion I had not foreseen.
- Programme
- English Language and Culture
- Study end date
Where do you work now and what does your job entail?
I work as an editor for Gracenote.
Why did you choose to work in this field?
I studied English Language and Culture, and whilst at Radboud I volunteered for a student magazine. I enjoyed editing; it was a passion I had not foreseen. I had hoped to work with books at first, but publishing can be a hard field to get into.
I found a vacancy for editor at Gracenote. Initially, I had applied for the UK team, but I got hired for the Dutch one. As I’m a native Dutch speaker, it was no problem. That being said, the company is international and even the Dutch team has people from all around the world so English is always used nonetheless (note: the texts I edit are in Dutch, but communication with my team and other teams is in English).
What did you learn during your studies that you now use in your work?
Peer review and literary analysis help me with text editing. I know what people want to see (or read, I should say), and I can provide feedback where necessary.
The focus on language I had in my education is what I naturally need when editing in general.
I have to be able to spot mistakes and provide feedback regarding the root cause of particular issues (the latter has mostly to do with requests made by clients).
How did you experience this programme at Radboud University? In your opinion, what made this programme special?
Overall positive. There was a mix of literature and linguistics; both can provide skills one may need. I focused more on letters in the end, but it depends on the field one is interested in.
What would you recommend to future students when they go to choose a study?
Use an elective or minor to expand your skills; courses regarding teaching, IT, copywriting, etc. Then you can use that on top of your major. If possible, find something extracurricular to expand your skills. I edited for a student magazine, so something similar can work out in your favour when looking for work.