In the second year, a region other than the ones offered by the CADS course Regional Dialogues may be studied, but only with the permission of the CADS Examination Board. Students take 10 ECTS of elective courses outside the CADS programme and may learn, for example, about Latin America, East Asia, or the Middle East.
Students themselves are responsible for finding these alternative courses, in academic programmes at Leiden University or at another Dutch university. They are also responsible for requesting permission to attend replacement courses in time, as well as for course registration and scheduling.
If a student wants to take an alternative course to Regional Dialogues, it is strongly advised to start searching courses on the websites of other CADS programmes in the Netherlands, followed by exploring which area courses are offered by academic Humanities programmes.
NB. Students should be aware that many courses aren’t available for external students. Therefore it is necessary to carefully check the admission criteria before registration. Admission criteria are indicated in course descriptions in the Prospectus.
If an alternative course to Regional Dialogues is attended at Leiden University, registration can take place in MyStudyMap. Students may follow courses at another university only if they meet that university’s registration requirements in time.
When choosing regional elective courses, students should take into account the following:
the subject must cover a number of aspects of contemporary society in a region: economy, culture, history, political design, art ... students may therefore follow multiple courses on different themes within the same region.
a region is in principle broader than a nation state, but in some cases might also cover large nation states (think of Russia, China, the US ...)
language courses are not seen as regional modules, but may instead be followed in the third year as part of the free elective space
the regional elective courses must in principle have a level of 200, but a maximum of 5 ECTS at level 100 may be recognized. Higher levels are clearly satisfactory.
Students are advised to pre-submit their choice of courses to Board of Examiners as replacements for CADS Regional Dialogues. Such requests should be sent by submitting petitions in uSis. For more information about filing petitions in uSis, please contact the SSC. The request should be provided with a motivation in which you describe at least how these courses fit the requirements for an alternative to Regional Dialogues, as well as the added value of these courses to your study programme.