Why us?

The Bachelor International Studies degree offers a unique combination of comparative area studies and foreign language acquisition.

In the course of the programme, students focus on a particular world area and study its cultural, political, economical and historical aspects. Language acquisition of (at least) one of the area’s main languages is essential to the degree, as a tool of communication and to provide the context for the specific area study. You learn to study regions in their own right and within a global and comparative perspective. The degree is taught and examined in English.


International Studies at Leiden University

  • This comparative area studies degree has a unique construction of tight interdisciplinarity and international perspective in a range that few universities are able to offer. 

  • Students receive a degree of Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities, one of the top faculties in continental Europe.

  • The programme is taught and assessed in the university’s campus in The Hague, where it can combine Leiden’s rich academic resources with the expertise represented in the national and international organisations in The Hague, the international city of peace and justice.

  • The academic programme offers a unique combination of current matters, language acquisition and a focus on the presentation of acquired knowledge in academic festivals instead of only examinations.

  • A degree in International Studies offers an excellent perspective in a globalising world that demands cross cultural understanding.

Degree offered by a top international faculty

The BA International Studies degree is offered by a top international faculty in a top international university. Leiden University is the oldest and possibly most renowned of the universities in the Netherlands and is a member of Europaeum (a group of ten leading international universities) and the League of European Research Universities. The degree is unique in its tight interdisciplinary and comparative design and builds on a range of area expertise that is rarely found within the Faculty of one university. 

International Studies combines the academic traditional and reputation of Leiden University with the library and research facilities, and the professional expertise available in the governmental and non-governmental facilities of The Hague, ten minutes away by train.


Alternatives by top institutions

International Studies is a generic term - sometimes also International relations or Global Studies - that all embrace a broad approach to the issues confronting the world. There are two basis trends – a political science approach (based around comparative politics and international relations) and a liberal arts and sciences approach (wider in scope and offering more space to ‘humanities’ approaches as cultural studies and history). The Leiden degree falls into the second category. Here, too, there are differences. There are multidisciplinary degrees offering a wide choice of options from the beginning, which afford students wide margins in following their own interests but sacrifice, in the process, the opportunities for a tightly structured interdisciplinary and comparative perspective. There are also issue-led, problem-oriented degrees that approach international issues through a series of  interdisciplinary themes or areas of study. And there are degrees similar to what we are trying to achieve. 

We are interested in ensuring that students choose the type of degree that best suits their own interests and ambitions. Here are some alternatives offered by top university institutions, that may appeal more to you than what we offer.
Remember to look carefully at the overall course design, and not the individual modules, before deciding:

 
Last Modified: 15-06-2011