Create Your Future (Eindhoven)
About the exchange programme
The international programme of Create Your Future stimulates the development of a personal and professional vision, attitude and set of behaviors to be able to relate to the emerging future and to deal with change. Self-reflection, an open attitude to new ideas and seeing mistakes as learning opportunities are key in the minor Create Your Future. It helps you thinking about yourself, your future, shaping your future and expend your cultural horizon.
Why this programme?
- Gain essential skills like creativity and teamwork, preparing you for a dynamic future.
- Develop through self-reflection and openness to new ideas, setting you up for success.
- Enhance your self-awareness and cultural insight, shaping your career and personal journey.
More about Your Future Work
The world and the labor market are changing rapidly due to many developments. That is why we can better focus on teaching important skills than rapidly aging factual and procedural knowledge that is now easily accessible to everyone through various media. However, this tsunami of information must be critically examined in order to subsequently assess whether it is, among other things, reliable and useful.
21st century skills include problem-solving, creativity and inventiveness and cooperation. These are skills that can be used in various domains and are therefore valuable for the student. We respond to this with the minor Your Future Work.
Since you already have a foundation of knowledge gained during your major, we will now proceed with skills and attitudes. Subsequently, you can use these enhanced skills and acquired knowledge in their own domain. It already stimulated and inspired many students to find the direction of their future.
Are you ready for the future?
Content of the programme
Take the challenge to craft your own future of work! From the starting point of the minor you will develop an understanding of personal options and choices. This will enable you to create opportunities, for personal and professional use.
Within the minor programme Create Your Future you will be educated with a curious attitude towards human sciences. Personal leadership and entrepreneurship will be challenged and strengthened during this programme. You will have the opportunity to combine the knowledge from your own major with a better understanding of your ambitions and expectations of the future (of work). In the (nearby) future you have to make choices concerning internships, employment and your career. Decision making has always been tough – but now it’s more difficult than ever. Furthermore, you will have to deal with complex situations. We inspire and stimulate you to make healthy choices in your future (work) in order to shape your career and to deal with complex situations in a healthy way.
- Mental Health and Happiness
- Career Design
- Bold as Love
- The world and you
- Intercultural Awareness
- Human Technology Interaction
In all courses personal and professional development are key. First you will reflect on your own behavior, attitudes, talents, personality and mistakes and then you will apply new insights in knowledge and skills to yourself to shape your future (career).
You will have to complete lots of different assignments for all courses. Alternately you learn individually and in international and multidisciplinary groups. You add and combine all assignments in a portfolio. This portfolio forms the base of evidence of your personal and professional development. Halfway through and at the end of the minor, you show the progress in your personal and professional development to your fellow students and the Board of the future.
Examples of assignments are:
- WackoXL Detox: getting to know each other en creating happy memories off campus during a wonderful introduction day
- Discussion in class about techno ethics
- Discovering personal values
- Working on a career plan
- Setting short-, mid- and long-term goals to pursue a life that is more fulfilling and rewarding with the help of a buddy (peer student)
- Writing a letter from the heart
- Providing a workshop about a topic of choice within relationships of the future
- Writing blogs and creating vlogs about topics within intercultural awareness
- Apply your mediation skills in a role play
- Create a Final Wacko with all students: generate a meaningful, co-creative and positive contribution to society by ‘paying forward’ the learnings, inspiration and best practices of the minor program, together with the stakeholders.
- Creating projects within Intervention of Happiness such as ‘The happy phonebooth project’
The minor lasts 20 weeks (including the assessments). Classes are scheduled most of the times four days per week (20-25 hours a week). The remaining day is intended for consultation with fellow students and self-study at your own pace.
The minor is divided in part 1 (10 weeks) and part 2 (10 weeks). During both parts you attend the same courses. These courses are taught every week during meeting of 1,5 – 2 hours. Some courses are taught to all students together and some courses are taught to half of the students of the minor programme.
Part 1
Week 1-7
- Attending courses
- Working on assessments
- Creating a portfolio
Week 8-10
- Testing
Part 2
Week 11-17
- Attending courses
- Working on assessments
- Creating a portfolio
Week 18-20
- Testing
- End event
The specific timetable for the minor will be announced approximately three weeks before the start of the minor at the latest.
‘It doesn’t matter which teacher we have. You create a safe place for us.’
(Rina, Malaysia)‘I once again understand that Fontys’ teachers are much more than just teachers. They become friends with their students, almost family-like which is extremely important to me. I think that wherever I would go, I would not be able to find such wholehearted teachers doing everything they can for their students’
(Ece, Turkey)-
- An international and intercultural classroom
Students from all over the world attend the minor programma. This results in an international and intercultural classroom in which students learn a lot from each other in and out school. We believe that it is important to create a safe learning environment. Therefore, we welcome a maximum of 20 students. All our students get to know each other.
The opportunity to contribute to happiness in society
Such as the Happy phone booth project, mentioned in 'our programme'.
Co-creation
You will create inspirational learning moments together with your fellow students, the teachers and nog to forget inspirational experts who will co-create in-depth learning moments in their field of expertise.
Personal coaching
When you experience some study related troubles during this minor, you can contact our study counsellor, who is also one of the teachers. If you have any issues or you do not know how to deal with a specific situation, he is there for subjective social support.
Holistic assesment
You will attend several courses, dive into different topics. At the same time, all is related because the key in every course is personal and professional development. Halfway through and at the end of the minor, you show your progress in your personal and professional development on your fellow students and the Board of the future.
Committed teachers
Each teacher has his or her expertise and guides you within their subject during your learning journey in the minor. We act according to the 'care and dare' principle: we care for you as a person and at the same time we challenge you.
Admission requirements
The programme is available for international students and professionals, as well as Dutch students, who find it interesting to study in an international and intercultural environment.
We expect you to:
- Work hard and play hard
- Be eager to learn new talent skills
- Care and practice kindness: ‘you are ok, I am ok’
- Dare and practice leadership: ‘courage over comfort’
- Be committed
- Ask for what you need or where want to know more about
- Have a good command of the English language, equal to IELTS 6.0/TOEFL Internet 80
How to apply as an exchange student
Applications should always be submitted via the International Exchange (or Erasmus) Officer at the home university. If several versions of the programme are offered, please indicate for which version you would like to apply to (Programme I, Programme II, Programme III, etc.) This officer will send your application request (nomination) to Fontys. Once Fontys has accepted the application, your Fontys study department will send you a link to a web application called Mobility Online.
Deadline for application
Fall semester: 15 May
Spring semester: 15 November
Note: Not all exchange programmes are available every semester. To find out when this programme is offered, please check its specific details.
How will your course programme be recognised by your home university?
Fontys will provide you with a so-called ‘Transcript of Records’, which will clarify the results that you have achieved. Depending on your results, you will receive a maximum of 30 ECTS credits. ECTS credits are recognised throughout Europe. The agreement between your home university and Fontys University of Applied Sciences will usually include a condition whereby the credits that you obtain will be recognised and transferred into the records kept by your home university.
Practical information
- Start moment(s)
- September, February
- Location
- Eindhoven
- ECTs
- 30
- Language
- English
- Duration
- 1 semester (21 weeks)
- Contact hours
- 20-25 hours per week
For more detailed information about practical matters, such as financial matters, residence permit, health insurance and accommodation, please click on the button below.