This information page is composed for students of the Bachelor programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.
Choosing a minor
A minor is a coherent package of courses offered by the university, usually consisting of 30 ECTS. By means of a minor, students may explore topics outside their own educational programmes, and a well-chosen minor will enrich the Bachelor’s course with knowledge, insights, and skills from other disciplines. A minor can also help students prepare for a Master’s degree.
Students may take a minor at any time once the first year has been successfully completed, but the best time is in the third year (first semester) of the Bachelor’s programme. Ideally, a minor should be completed within one year, as changes might be made to the curriculum for following years.
It is important to start looking into the possibilities well in advance, e.g. during the first semester of the second year. Second-year students will receive information about minors during a plenary tutoring meeting in the first semester.
Please make sure to check the application deadline of any minor you are interested in. You can register for a minor on eduXchange.
After registering for a minor, the minor needs to be added to your academic requirements in uSis. The procedure for this depends on whether the minor is offered by Leiden University or another institution. Please review both scenarios below.
Minor at Leiden University
Leiden University offers over 50 minors. However, while the choice is wide there are restrictions: some minors have special admission criteria, and for others a limited number of places are available. Students may not follow minors in their own disciplines since they may include courses also included in the Bachelor’s curriculum.
After registering for a minor at Leiden University, the SSC will include the minor in your uSis academic requirements. This means you do not need to file a petition in uSis for the minor.
Minor at another Dutch University
Students may follow minors at the other Dutch universities (N.B.: not those offering "applied sciences"/HBO).
Students who wish to choose minors from other universities must enrol as "guest students" following the application procedure of that particular institution. No extra tuition fee will be due, because fees have already been paid to Leiden University.
Leiden University has an agreement with the Technical University in Delft and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, making it easier for Leiden students to follow minors at those institutions. Places are reserved for Leiden students and the application procedure is more uniform. Please read more about the LDE cooperation and available minors on the designated page of the University website.
Permission from the BoE - filing a petition in uSis
Unlike the Leiden minors which are by definition suitable, minors from other Dutch Universities should explicitly be approved by the Board of Examiners. This can be accomplished by submitting a petition in uSis, requesting approval for the selected minor as outlined below. The petition should include a motivation in which you describe at least how this minor meets the requirements, as well as the added value of the minor to your study program. Ensure that you file your petition well in advance to secure approval before commencing the courses.
Add an external minor to the Free Elective space
- Open uSis and navigate to your “Academic Requirements”. These can be reached by:
Clicking on the white schedule on the left (Units taken / Units required)
Clicking on “Enroll” and then on “Enroll by My requirements”
- Click on one of the empty “dummy courses” (i.e. 6493KV1Y) under header “CA BA 3 Free Electives”.
- Click on the “submit request”-button and choose the “External Education”-type in the drop-down menu.
- “External organization”: fill out the name of the university you’ll be taking the minor at.
- Fill out the course information:
“Original course name”: fill out the full name of the first minor course.
“English translation course name”: fill out the full English name of the first minor course. Please note: Do not translate the course title yourself, but use the official English course title. If the offical English course title is not available, please copy the original course title in the English field.
“Requested units”: fill out the amount of ECTS the course is worth.
- If the minor consists of more than one course, please click on “Add external education” below the first minor course. A new (empty) line will appear. Please repeat step 5 for the second minor course.
- Repeat step 5 and 6 until all minor courses are mentioned in your petition.
- “Explanation student”: describe the reason for filing the petition (i.e. you would like to take up this minor in your elective space).
- Upload documents supporting your request, if applicable (i.e. course description, a certified transcript in case the course was taken at a university outside of Leiden University, etc.). If you have taken courses abroad, please provide your exchange coordinator with the genuine original documents. We regularly perform a sample check.
- Provide a weblink to a description of the course(s), if possible from the E-prospectus of the educational institution you will take the minor at.
- Submit the petition.
As soon as the courses have been approved by the Board of Examiners, the courses will be transferred to your Academic Requirements in uSis. Please provide the SSC with a certified transcript of grades from the University you’ve taken the course(s) at. Please note: If you have completed courses abroad, please click here for more information on the process of registering your grades.
Add an external minor to the Extracurricular space
- Open uSis and navigate to your “Academic Requirements”. These can be reached by:
Clicking on the white schedule on the left (Units taken / Units required)
Clicking on “Enroll” and then on “Enroll by My requirements”
- Scroll down to the end of the page and open the Extracurricular space (= the blue bar named “Extracurriculair”)
- Click on the green triangle that has appeared (next to “Extracurricular Courses & Activities”). Some empty “dummy courses” (named “Extracurricular Course”) should now be visible.
- Click on one of the dummy courses (i.e. 6490ext01). Please do not use the old code 9999excub.
- Click on the “submit request”-button and choose the “External Education”-type in the drop-down menu.
- “External organization”: fill out the name of the university you’ll be taking the minor at.
- Fill out the course information:
“Original course name”: fill out the full name of the first minor course.
“English translation course name”: fill out the full English name of the first minor course. Please note: Do not translate the course title yourself, but use the official English course title. If the offical English course title is not available, please copy the original course title in the English field.
“Requested units”: fill out the amount of ECTS the course is worth.
- If the minor consists of more than one course, please click on “Add external education” below the first minor course. A new (empty) line will appear. Please repeat step 7 for the second minor course.
- Repeat step 7 and 8 until all minor courses are mentioned in your petition.
- “Explanation student”: describe the reason for filing the petition (i.e. you would like to take up this minor in your elective space).
- Upload documents supporting your request, if applicable (i.e. course description, a certified transcript in case the course was taken at a university outside of Leiden University, etc.). If you have taken courses abroad, please provide your exchange coordinator with the genuine original documents. We regularly perform a sample check.
- Provide a weblink to a description of the course(s), if possible from the E-prospectus of the educational institution you will take the minor at.
- Submit the petition.
As soon as the courses have been approved by the Board of Examiners, the courses will be transferred to your Academic Requirements in uSis. Please provide the SSC with a certified transcript of grades from the University you’ve taken the course(s) at. Please note: If you have completed courses abroad, please click here for more information on the process of registering your grades.