Excellence programmes in higher education: selection of students, effects on students, and the broader impact on higher education institutions

In this introductory article, the guest editors introduce the special issue by providing some background information on excellence programmes in higher education in the Netherlands. This article also describes the current state of knowledge on excellence programmes in the Netherlands, especially in terms of the effects of these programmes on students and on higher education institutions, and they identify how this special issue fills some of the most prominent remaining gaps in the literature on this topic. In the remainder of the introductory article, the authors briefly summarize the other articles in the special issue, and synthesize the main conclusions from these studies to shed further light on the key contributions of this special issue to the literature, and on recommendations for policy makers, institutions, and teaching staff in higher education.