Regional Development and Innovation
Bachelor of Rural Innovation
Content programme
First and second year
In the first year you immediately start working on projects, so you can begin to develop basic project-oriented skills. You learn how to give a professional presentation, analyse problems and develop your own creativity. You will make assessments, and one of the projects is to compose a rural development plan for a municipality. Organising, planning and conducting meetings is part of all this. Some of this training takes place outside Van Hall Larenstein.
In the second year, you will continue to deepen your professional knowledge. Each student undertakes two five-week work placements: one at an 'enhanced' farm and one as a co-group leader of young people. It is recommended to do at least one of these placements outside The Netherlands. After this, you will be working on practice-based subjects, by studying and practising group facilitation methods and tools in different rural development settings. In the second half of this year, you will set up your own rural development firm.
Third and fourth year
During the first half of the third year, you will enhance your skills in innovation and communication, organising and networking, motivation and training. In the role of facilitator you carry out interactive research and training, and you will be planning activities in different settings, for example in a real life project about land use planning (using Geographic Information Systems) for the introduction of new crops in Ghana.
In the second half of year three you will undertake a 20-week work placement at an organisation for regional/rural development. The placement can be done inside or outside The Netherlands. In 2007/2008 students did their placement amongst others in India, The Netherlands, Ghana, Benin and Uganda. Based on their planning for you future career, in the fourth year you select a minor related to your major. Suitable minors can be found both within Van Hall Larenstein as well at other universities. Minors frequently chosen by RDI students are in the field of communication studies, use of different media, land use property rights, disaster studies, natural resource management and interactive planning.
The second semester culminates in your graduation project. This starts with a project proposal that leads to your specific research activities. You will work, learn, and conduct research in an external institute or company in the Netherlands or abroad. This leads to the preparation of a thesis on an approved applied research topic of interest for the rural or regional development organisation or programme you chose.