University of Amsterdam Summer Programmes GSSS

I am a law student from India. I attended the security governance and conflict resolution summer programme in June 2017. The course structure was very interesting and the lecturer Mr.Martijn Dekker is an inspirational human being. He was so knowledgeable and humble and not to mention FUN. The University had planned 2 trips to the ICC in Hague and the Nato SHAPE in Belgium. These 2 trips were once in a life time opportunity. The housing was very comfortable and located at the heart of the city. Above all my classmates were intelligent, wonderful people. And living in Amsterdam for 3 weeks felt like I was living in a dream. Must attend!!!!!!!!

This is a fantastic program. The lecturers were excellent and covered many different topics of theoretical addiction models, policy, and treatment. We looked at local and international policy; adolescence; prevention and education; genetics and addiction; treatment via internet; future policy and trends; psychology, behavior; international research; novel treatment programs and much more.
We had great excursions to facilities around Amsterdam such as a Dutch youth prison; 'coffee' shop management; residential facilities for chronic substance users; AA meeting; drug testing
Accommodation was with student housing so it was basic but good and very inexpensive. My partner and I had an apartment for less than 30 Euros a night. It's even cheaper if you are single and share rooms.The student housing was good as you also got to mix with all the other students and go out socialising in Amsterdam together.
Our course had 17 students from 14 nations so we had a really great mix of ideas and experiences from around the world. It was a fantastic group and we all became good friends very quickly.
Amsterdam is a lovely little city and is especially great in Summer. We had beautiful weather for the entire 2 weeks. Sunny and warm everyday!
There is much to do and see in Amsterdam and all the other students are very friendly so we had a great time going out after classes finished for the day. It has been really great staying in touch via Facebook with the friends that I met during this course. This is a fantastic course and I had the best time!

This summer institute was a great experience from academic, professional and social point of view. The composition was excellent and I got to meet very good set of people from diverse backgrounds, from academics to professionals and social workers in field of sexuality studies/ research/work. The faculty were no less. in four week period we covered in depth, diverse topics from concepts and theories to art and media to urban tours of sex districts and sexual politics. Such a diversity with depth combination is hardly covered in any usual sexuality courses where they are limited by disciplinary boundaries. But Summer school at UvA just did the unusual. The teachers were distinguished and well versed and also open to critiques and sensitive to contextual differences. I made great friends with faculty and students and hope to reap these professional connections for my professional work in future.

Apart from school Amsterdam is a great place to explore, given its openness in attitude and tolerance to sexual difference. The gay pride gave a taste of its vibrancy as much as the sex district or Dutch people themselves. AS walk through the city lets you learn so much. I enjoyed my daily doze of Frites and felafel, fresh cheeze and lots of dutch friends. I miss the WTF parties very much.

It's a fantastic summer program. Professors gave us interesting lectures and provided us with basic knowledge of the social policy in Amsterdam. The most amazing part is that we went to different sights to see what it was in reality. That's pretty easy for us to understand what the conception and idea professor taught in class.

The location, the lecturers, the people were all amazing. This was something i would never forget. My only difficulty was speaking English everyday, but I managed to handle it after a while. It was the best way to spend your summer; making friendships, staying in an amazing city, and learning the most valuable subjects by very good lecturers.