This webpage offers you the most frequently asked questions and answers provided by staff and students themselves.

Assistance for refugee students, first-generation students, and students from Suriname and the Caribbean region of the Netherlands.

Leiden University students interested in studying abroad can contact their outgoing exchange coordinator for advice and assistance. For international exchange students visiting Leiden University, your first point of contact is your incoming exchange coordinator.

Saturday's Study Abroad fair in Leiden is the ideal place to gather information about going abroad during your studies, or being an international student at Leiden University. And enjoy it all with a free cup of coffee or tea, and maybe even a delicious slice of pizza.

Outgoing exchange coordinators can provide you with information and advice if you are interested in going abroad as part of your Leiden University study programme.

Lecture, China Seminar

Does the Leiden Leadership Programme appeal to you? You can find more about the selection procedure below. The applications for 2026-2027 run from 1 September till 30 September 2026.

Find out how honours students at Leiden University get support, join a community or offer suggestions for improvements.

Gain the knowledge and skills you need to make an impact on sustainability issues.

Professor Sarah de Rijcke became the new Rector Magnificus of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She introduces herself and shares what motivates her to take on this role.

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

Do you want to contribute to society and do you have affinity with space? In the LDE Space & Society Honours Programme, you will learn how the two are connected and tackle a challenge in the space sector.

Conference

There are countless ways to meet new people, at your own study programme and faculty, or elsewhere within the university.

Take a look at the admission requirements and application procedures.

Would you like to broaden and deepen your horizons in an interdisciplinary community? Would you like to explore how science, society and self can be consciously and strategically aligned to solve complex and interwoven problems? If so, take a look at the admission requirements and application proced…

Do you want to gain problem-solving experience? Shape your future with a Master Honours Challenge at Leiden University!

The Academic Language Centre is organising an introduction to Ukrainian with the Russian Studies/Russian and Eurasian Studies programmes. This six-part course is meant primarily for people who are in contact with refugees from Ukraine.

In a new video on the Faculty of Humanities' YouTube-channel, we follow MA student Russian and Eurasian Studies Sophie. She is doing an internship at VPRO's OVT, a weekly Dutch radio show that provides historical backgrounds for news, columns and documentaries.

So many interesting programmes, but which one suits me best? It was the Bachelor’s Open Day in Leiden and The Hague on Saturday 12 October. Among the many things to do in The Hague, prospective students could find out more about three new bachelor’s programmes: Science for Sustainable Societies, Cybersecurity…

MA International Relations: Culture and Politics student Annick van Rinsum created a play as a method to research her master’s thesis. “Through writing this play, I aim to contribute to our understanding of International Relations Theory. I’m specifically interested in the question how our theories…

Discover the unique options offered by your faculty, designed to enrich your academic journey and broaden your global perspective. Join our faculty-specific sessions to explore how studying abroad can enhance your education and open doors to exciting new experiences.

The war between Ukraine and Russia is playing out not just on the battlefield but also on the geopolitical playing field of gas. Conflicts at the start of this century about this energy source were, says PhD candidate Ilia Barboutev, a precursor to today’s war.

Organisation

Who assembled the collections of museums? The answer to this question seems to point to men as collectors. Apart from for rare exceptions, female collectors hardly seem to exist. Yet there were indeed women collectors. For the project Museums, Collections and Society, researcher Holly O'Farrell will…

Japanese newspapers, photo archives from the Dutch East Indies or information on gender and sexuality: all these can be found in the University Library's 621 humanities databases. A flyer campaign to raise awareness of them begins this week.

How do you get fit after these challenging times? How do you actively start a healthy lifestyle? Healthy University Leiden would like to address these topics during the upcoming from #COVID to #GOFIT Week, which will take place from 21 to 25 June 2021.

Education

Organisation

Chinese Studies, History or Urban Studies? How do you choose the right degree programme for you? Hundreds of prospective students tried to find out at the Bachelor’s Open Day in Leiden and The Hague. A new formula helped them on their way.

It’s Saturday and electric minibuses ride back and forth bringing prospective students to Leiden University’s various faculties. They want to see for themselves whether that interesting-looking programme will suit them.

The housing crisis is affecting a substantial group of Dutch citizens and is one of the main election themes this year. How did things get this far and what should the new cabinet do in the coming four years to address the problems? Three Leiden researchers give their answer.

Thinking about the next step in your career, networking, preparing for the labour market or possibly meeting your future employer. Over 400 students and young alumni of the Faculties Governance and Global Affairs, Humanities, and Behavioural Sciences came together last week during the Campus The Hague…

Our students come from all over the world and have many different interests, but they share one ambition: change the world and show ‪#‎whyhumanitiesmatter‬.

Did you know that during your studies you develop skills that are useful in working life too? On top of that, many of these transferable skills are listed as “future-oriented” skills and are in demand in the labour market.

When designing public spaces, noise is often a neglected issue. Architects and urban planners know little about it; noise experts see it mainly as a problem that should be solved simply by reducing the volume. University lecturer Andrea Giolai (LIAS), researcher Kevin Toksöz Fairbairn (ACPA) and Professor…

Two years ago, university lecturer Kirsty Rolfe was nominated for the Faculty Teaching Prize. Now she is in the running for the university equivalent. ‘It’s lovely to see students blossom.’

Leiden University Academy is making lifelong learning even better! The entire range of programmes on offer for professionals has been expanded and united under this name.

From 11 to 17 September, Leiden will be all about art and science. What can the combination of these two domains do for us? And how can cooperation between them be strengthened? Several public events and a brand new symposium for specialists should answer these questions.

Publishing an article as early as during your studies. Master's students of Nanne Timmer and Astrid Weyenberg are doing it. In the new course 'Leiden Graduate Journal Culture and Society' they are creating an academic journal.

Three years ago, Associate Professor Alicia Schrikker published 'De vlinders van Boven-Digoel', in which she chronicled several stories about colonial life in present-day Indonesia. Now there is a translation, by Rianti Manullang, who is also an assistant professor at Universitas Indonesia and doing…

Three Humanities lecturers received the Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) this year. Lecturer Hossam Ahmed is one of them. What does he think makes for good education?

The Israel-Palestine conflict regularly sparked intense debates in university lecturer Noa Schonmann's classes. She decided to start a podcast with journalist Rajaa Natour to teach her students to have deep and difficult conversations in a nuanced way.

Is scientific research useful? In his dissertation, Jorrit Smit argues that in order to answer this question one should not look at, for example, prominent scholars or influential organisations, but at places where knowledge exchange and co-creation take place. Promotion 6 May.

Party for Dispuut Pleyte (so called after the 19th-century Dutch Egyptologist). The study association for Ancient Near Eastern studies and Classics and Ancient Civilizations celebrates its 50th anniversary. Ahead of the festive symposium on 7 June, we look back and ahead with chairman Steef Haeldermans…

EUniWell, the alliance of seven European universities committed to developing teaching and research relating to well-being, is celebrating its first anniversary. Law student Fenna van Haeften has been involved as a student representative right from the start. This October she went to Florence, where…