Personal Experience - Jonas Kool
With the aim of broadening his knowledge and further developing his skills in the professional field, second-year Business Administration student Jonas Kool embarked on one of the Nijmegen School of Management’s honours programmes. Jonas chose the NSM Honours Group Programme (HP1), during which he worked on the social issue of sustainability within financial institutions.
Throughout the academic year, Jonas worked towards several final products to do with subject, including a research report. To this end, he visited the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, where he conducted several interviews. Following this trip, the idea for his other end product, a podcast, was born. This podcast was intended to explain his findings in an easily accessible way, thereby building a bridge to society.
“I've always wanted to make a podcast, so we went ahead and did it. The whole experience and the results were very promising.” 
During the honours programme, you get the opportunity to develop many different skills, such as presentation skills and writing skills. You also learn how to set up and organise various activities. For example, how can you reach an employee at the European Bank in Frankfurt for an interview?
“You don't just learn about a subject; you also get a whole set of skills. The emphasis is not only on the knowledge, but also on the skills you need to get your message across to an audience.”
Another part of the honours programme is the creation of a personal development plan, in which Jonas outlined various goals for himself. This, he says, allows you to really work towards something. One of his goals was looking for a worthwhile internship. In the end, he not only found this internship, but also started a six-month full-time internship parallel to his honours programme. The personal development plan helped him to actively brainstorm this with one of the supervisors.
"In the personal progress track, I learned that expectations are sometimes formulated in such a way in your mind that you assume in advance that you are not going to make it. That is something you can change."
The combination of a full-time internship and an honours programme sometimes made for busy weeks. This was particularly the case in the weeks leading up to deadlines. However, he never felt overwhelmed.
“I learned a lot during the honours programme. I learned a lot about the field, but also about myself, such as what my limits are and how to listen to myself as a human being. If you decide to do this, it is important that you take good care of yourself, because it is a programme on top of your own studies or internship."