Netherlands

This course focuses on the fundamental financial theories and applications that explain how investors, managers, corporations and other market participants interact and behave in the financial markets and what affects and drives their decisions, as well as the implication of those decisions and interactions. It also considers how corporate financial managers make financing decisions and manage financial risks. The course covers several major aspects of financial analysis and decision making that are important to modern corporations, including the valuation of projects and securities, capital structure choice, working capital management, and the management of international risks. While many of the theories and tools in financial management assume well-functioning capital markets with rational economic agents, the course also covers alternative perspectives based on key insights from the field of Behavioral Finance.

This course deepens knowledge of organic chemistry and organic synthesis in relation to drug molecules. Medicinal chemistry deals with the discovery, design, identification, and synthesis of drug molecules, and with the study of the relationships between the structure of a drug molecule and its behavior in the body. By looking at five major diseases, the organic synthesis and pharmacology of several drug molecules for treating these diseases are explored. A full year of Organic Chemistry is required for admission.

This course allows you to become acquainted with basic practices of acting, moving and listening as well as with a framework of concepts that help you unpack and situate the notion of performance. Practically and theoretically introductions to how sound, movement and action are experienced, performed and conceptualized in the context of the performing arts. In particular, the course addresses the larger areas of sound, movement and action and accounts for their conceptual and empirical intersections. In order to do so, it considers methodological and philosophical approaches to rhythm, space, time, body, play, and affect, while stressing that when we perform, we learn how to organize (new forms of) attention and experience, which carries social and political implications. The course is organized in three cycles of five weeks each and is taught by four different teachers with intersecting areas of expertise. Every cycle is consisted of sessions that interchangeably focus on sound, movement and action in performance, in theory and in practice. The focus of the first cycle is on attending to performance, the focus of the second cycle is on performing and the focus of the third cycle is on reflecting. Students are required to visit approximately three professional productions that are proposed by the teachers. They are also expected to read and analyze the assigned texts, to fulfill practical preparatory tasks, to actively participate in the workshops and in class discussions, to give group presentations and to hand in a portfolio of small written assignments. No previous experience in the performing arts is required.

Growth and Development builds on concepts and theories presented in some first and second year courses, such as Multidisciplinary Economics and Intermediate Macroeconomics. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach to explore the relationship between growth, poverty, and development. The course starts by reviewing theories of modern economic growth including the Solow and Lewis models. We complement and build on the Intermediate Macroeconomics course, which covers short-run business cycles, by examining long run processes of economic growth and explaining persistent differences in income levels around the world. The primary focus is on developing countries.  Second, the course reviews the measurement of poverty and inequality and their relationship with economic growth. Third, the course discusses the role of trade and institutions in shaping development trajectories. Fourth, problems of human development facing developing countries today, including issues related to demographic transitions, health, and education are analyzed. Fifth, green growth and the necessity of environmental sustainability are analyzed. And lastly, the course concludes with a discussion of the aid effectiveness debate.

In this project students engage in a deep reading of a text linked to seminal themes and issues in the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences. Deep reading is a process of thoughtful and deliberate reading through which a reader actively works to critically contemplate, understand and ultimately enjoy a particular text to the fullest extent possible. Rather than selectively skimming for facts or speed-reading for summaries, the process of deep reading means slowing down, re-reading and even stopping periodically to more fully contemplate specific pages or passages. Having considered and recognized what a text says, deep reading goes a step further and strives to reflect upon the broader implications or consequences of the text, i.e. what does the text ‘do’? Although deep reading is a profoundly personal experience, within the context of problem-based learning the process of deep reading also rests on the premise that profound understanding and appreciation of a text emerges through group-based discussion and deliberation. A single seminal text (classic or contemporary) or cohesive set of readings will be assigned by tutors. Tutorial group meetings and individual and collaborative work. Final paper in the format of an extended book review, presentation, and reflective essay.

The course covers two or three of the following main topics: Dynamical systems, Group Theory, or Complex Analysts. Dynamical systems include ordinary differential equations, phase plane analysis, stability analysis, linearization, limit cycles, Poincaré-Benedixson Theorem. Group theory is a natural setting in which to learn styles of proof-writing and abstract thought characteristic of much of modern mathematics. Complex analysis includes the calculus of complex-valued functions and power series, geometric properties of analytic functions, the Cauchy-Riemann equations, topological properties of integration in the complex plane, Cauchy’s Theorem, Cauchy’s Formula. Which of the above topics are covered may vary from year to year. This course replaces the former Math labs UCSCIMATL5, UCSCIMATL3, and UCSCIMATL6.

Along with an introductory survey of the most important art of the period, the course covers various controversies regarding the works' essence. The central aspects and artists of the period are introduced in the first seven weeks. Based on the textbook, lectures, and excursions, students are challenged to create a kind of survey for themselves. The second part of the course gives representative examples of the methods and fields of research that are central to the subject of seventeenth-century Dutch art. An attempt is made to offer a complete survey of the important painters from the seventeenth century, but of course a selection has to be made. There is an emphasis on Rembrandt, not only because he was the most important seventeenth-century Dutch artist, but also because his work has been researched in a number of ways. Additionally, there is an emphasis on painters and art historians from Utrecht, because their work is close at hand in the museums in this city, and because knowledge of Utrecht culture might contribute to a feeling of home. Prerequisites for this course include a course on art history or museum studies.

This course studies future-defining themes such as Food, Water, Energy, Engineering, and Health both from an academic and real-life perspective. While learning about contemporary efforts and policies to address climate change, inequality, and globalization, the course also explores what these phenomena really entail and how they can be addressed through thinking and actions. The course discusses the thoughts of our greatest philosophers as well as site visits, interviews with leading policymakers, entrepreneurs, and scientists, and an exploration of real life. Understanding the essence of entrepreneurship in the realm of globally interconnected markets, production, and supply chains is a continuous thread throughout the course. Seeking to understand human behavior through the lens of consumption and lifestyles, key elements of positive psychology are studied.