Samenvatting

It is discussed that the cultural sector provides opportunities to develop key competencies, also referred as generic competencies. Competencies are described as skills, knowledge and attitudes that profession practisers needs to apply in a professional practise, besides job-specific competencies. A variety of competencies do exist. However, the following competencies are argued to occur the most at bachelor degree: communication skills, creativity, critical reflection, thinking skills information processing, leadership, lifelong learning, problem solving, social responsibility and teamwork. It is argued that competency development is mostly focussed on study programmes and courses. However, universities also provide possibilities to focus on learning in an informal setting. For instance, the HZ University of Applied Sciences launched the ‘Personality’ programme where students are encouraged to carry out activities with the aim to develop generic competencies. For example, students can participate in cultural activities offered by HZ Cult. However, it is unknown why students of the HZ University of Applied Sciences participate and if their generic competencies are developed by the participation of cultural activities. In order to find out, a qualitative and explorative research was carried out. An online survey was sent to students of the HZ University of Applied Sciences. Positive as well as negative critical incidents are collected as well as the perceptions of students in respect of competency development. Thematic and inductive coding was used in order to analyse the data. The study showed that the majority of the students gave multiple reasons to participate in cultural activities. Earning study credits was the most common reason. Most students argued to have learned something and developed their skills by their participation in one or more activities. Cultural skills were mentioned the most, followed by social skills, communication skills, creative thinking, working together, critical reflecting, life-long learning, solving problems and to undertake activities independently. However, the majority of students mentioned that their attitude was not changed. To conclude, this study shows that the participation in cultural activities provides opportunities to gain knowledge and acquire skills. However, only a few respondents mentioned that their attitude in respect of themselves, other or the society has changed.
One of the main implication of this study is that competencies are subjective and not easy to measure. This study gives therefore more insight in students’ perception in respect of their knowledge, skills and attitudes as well as the positive and negative aspects of the cultural programme that is offered by the organisation HZ Cult.
It is advisable to carry out research in order to further explore the skills that were mentioned mostly such as cultural and social skills. Next to this, research regarding participation in other extra-curricular activities as part of the Personality programme could give a better understanding about the effects of the overall programme.