Political science Report
5 students
Courses:
Introduction to political theory: Students said it was overall very good however
the small test were thought to be quite hard question with very specific answers
that would not always stimulate thought as much as possible.
Comparative politics: Students also thought it was a good course as well, more
down to earth than introduction to political theory which is nice.
Political Science: State of the Art: Students said it was an interesting course
though a bit dry. However they liked the second part of the course was very
good, especially since it consisted of a research proposal and a review of an
article.
International Relations: Students really liked it. The course is quite theoretical
and about forming ideas and theories. It is very methodological. This is not a bad
thing but expectation management needs to be done. The statecraft game was
also thought to be interesting and nice to apply the theories with.
Advanced International Relations: This course was very highly rated, with good
readings and the final essay was thought to be quite good as there is a lot of
freedom.
Comparative political institutions: This course was thought to be good, with the
teacher being very knowledgeable, though not explicitly comparative enough. It
is nice to learn about the English and Dutch system but learning the methods to
compare was a bit missing.
Public Policy: Students thought it was a nice course though a lot of emphasis was
put on one theory. The course could also be more structured and the readings
were a bit much.
Track
The track was though generally to be very good without too much overlap.
Though there can seem to not be too much coherency with three strands of
political science: IR, Political institutions and policy. This is because the field
itself is not very coherent so this is not a problem. The field combines well with
other fields so fits well within the liberal arts and science philosophy. When
asked if something was missing several ideas were proposed:
-A course about Political communications
-A course on Democracy
-A course which leaves a lot of room for one big project such as Advanced
Molecular Cell Biology.
When asked if the balance between theory and practice was good, the answer was yes
though there could always be more practice such as a parliament simulation could be
incorporated.
Recommendations:
Overall the focus group was very positive. A few things came out:
-Make Comparative political institutions more comparative and include more methods
-A new course could be implemented or the current courses modified to include
perspective on Political communications or Democracy.
-More practical politics, see how it works in the field: such as mock parliaments or a
research project