Minors

Summary
During the final phase of their studies, students can participate in a minor. This minor deepens or broadens the programme. Minors can be taken at Fontys ICT, one of the other Fontys universities of applied sciences, or at a higher education institution in the Netherlands or abroad. However, no minor guarantees the final level of the programme. Students must demonstrate this themselves in the final phase by completing a topic in the advanced phase.

There are different types of minors that students can choose from.

• Fontys ICT itself offers a number of broad minors in the field of ICT, such as the AI 4 Society, Digital Marketing or Virtual Productions minors. These minors are generally accessible to all higher professional education students and are therefore not exclusive to ICT students.
• Fontys ICT also offers a selection of minors that are only accessible to a limited target group: the higher professional education ICT minors, such as Smart Industry Technologies.
• Within the free choice space in which a minor can be chosen, a Fontys ICT student can also opt for a main topic or an advanced topic. These are exclusive to Fontys ICT students.
• Fontys also offers a large number of Fontys minors. However, these do not fall within the HBO-ICT field. Health Innovation is a good example of this, but so is Dutch for Non-Native Speakers.
• To reduce and facilitate the transition to university, there is also the option of doing a transition minor that prepares students for this. There are programmes for TU/e, Tilburg and JADS.
• Throug Kies op Maat, students can choose from the range of minors offered by other educational institutions in the Netherlands.
• Finally, there is also the option of doing a minor abroad.

Minors can be both broadening and deepening for participating students. For example, the AI4Society minor is deepening for students with a background in AI, but broadening for students who have completed a business ICT or development programme, for example.

This also applies to the HBO-ICT minor, which has restrictions on the intake profile. The minor programmes offered by Fontys ICT, together with explanations for students, can be found in the Study Guide.

• HBO ICT minor: Minors offered by Fontys ICT that require a specific intake: for example, only ICT students or a select number of other disciplines such as Mechatronics.
• Fontys ICT minor: minors that are particularly suited to an in-depth or broadening interest in ICT. These minors are offered in English in Eindhoven and are therefore also accessible to international students. The programme in Tilburg is in Dutch. These are in fact the Fontys minors for which Fontys ICT is the coordinator.
• Fontys minor: a broadening minor offered by other Fontys institutes. These minors are accessible to higher education students within the Netherlands and some are even accessible to foreign students. Fontys ICT is the coordinator of a number of Fontys minors.
• Transition minor: special programmes in which students who graduate from HBO-ICT can enrol in a number of master's programmes at Eindhoven University of Technology, Tilburg University or the Academy of Data Science (JADS in 's-Hertogenbosch).
• Other minor programmes: at other universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands and abroad.

The minor programmes offered by Fontys ICT are evaluated annually (in February) by the Development Committee. Topics covered in the evaluation include: quality of implementation, content of the minor programmes, and student appreciation and participation. In addition, new initiatives from lecturers are discussed. Based on this, the Development Consultation advises the (Extended) Fontys ICT Leadership Team on the new minor programme for the following academic year: which minors will continue, which will be discontinued and which new minors will be launched.

The minor portfolio holder of the Fontys ICT (Extended) Leadership Team is responsible for:

• Advising the Development Consultation and Fontys ICT (Extended) Leadership Team on the minor portfolio and policy;
• Communication regarding minors (student information, study choice guide, etc.);
• Quality of educational development and implementation;
• Contact person for Fontys Service O&O regarding Fontys minors.

Educational development is managed by the Curriculum Owner (CE) of the minor in question. See also the Study Guide.

The Cluster Manager (CM) has final responsibility for the implementation of education (deployment, scheduling, accommodation, budgeting). The relevant PLOU is responsible for each minor.