For information on the structure of the programme see the tab “More info."
Note: ‘ Semester 1’ stands for Fall semester and ‘ Semester 2’ for Spring semester.
Note that this prospectus is still in the process of being updated.
| Course | EC | Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
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First year |
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Common Core Courses: |
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| Critical Area Studies: Placing Your Research | 10 | ||
| Methodologies in the Social Sciences and Humanities | 10 | ||
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Students are strongly advised to opt to take the Methodologies course mentioned above. By taking this course, they fulfill the requirement that they should take in total at least 10 EC of courses from one of the research schools. over the two years. |
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Core Elective Courses:
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| LIAS PhD Seminar: Decolonisation in Academia | 5 | ||
| LIAS PhD Seminar: Identity and Resistance in a Global Context | 5 | ||
| From Algeria to Palestine - The MENA Region in the Settler Colonial World (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Culture and Society in the Medieval Muslim World (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Narratives that Matter: Literature, Film and Television Drama in the Middle East (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Oil, Waste and Water: Environmental Issues in the Middle East and North Africa (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Pilgrimage and Holy Places (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Radio Palestine/Israel: Voices in Conflict (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| In the Time of Cities: Space, Place, and Politics in the Urban Middle East (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| LIAS PhD Seminar: The Uses of Translation | 5 | ||
| LIAS PhD Seminar: Gender and Archive | 5 | ||
| Culture and Conquest: the Impact of the Mongols and their Descendants (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Material Culture, Heritage and Memory along the Silk Roads in Central Asia (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| The Middle East in the International Political Economy (ResMA) [CANCELLED] | 10 | ||
| Political History of the Middle East in the 20th Century (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Power and Resistance in the Modern Middle East (ResMA) | 10 | ||
| Themes in Arabic Literature: Bandits and Outlaws, Fact and Fiction (ResMA) | 10 | ||
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Elective Courses
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Second year, Semester 1 Research semester During the first semester of their second year students need to do research worth minimally 20 EC and maximally 30 EC. As the semester must have a total load of 30 EC, the remainder may be filled by taking another course at at least 400 level in the case research is less than 30 EC. |
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| Research Project (Fieldwork) (ResMA) | 20-30 | ||
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Second year, Semester 2 In this semester students write their research MA Thesis. |
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| Research MA Thesis (Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies) | 30 | ||
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Additionally, students can apply to participate in a series of extra-curricular lectures in the Fall semester of the first or second year, |
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| Beyond Discipline and Place in the Social Sciences and the Humanities | 0 | ||
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or they can, in the second semester of their second year, participate in some sessions which gives them some leads in preparation for their possible post-graduate careers. |
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| Advanced Seminar: Post-graduate Orientation | 0 | ||
Elective Courses
Choose two or more courses with a minimum of 20 EC in total from the courses on offer in the regular MA Middle Eastern Studies as listed below, or
courses from other MA programmes (levels 400-500) (approval needed from the Board of Examiners), or
Students may also replace Elective Courses by Core Elective Courses or courses from the National Research Schools (take a 600-level course instead of a 500-level course).
The courses listed are, in principle, open to all students admitted to the MA Middle Eastern Studies (research). However, some of them may have additional entry requirements such as, for example, a particular level of language sufficiency. Please refer to the course descriptions for further details.
Title: Master of Arts
Duration: 2 years, full-time
Start date: September
Language of instruction: English
Responsibility: Programme director Master Asian Studies (research), Dr. C. Strava.
This research master provides core training in an Area Studies approach to knowledge, opportunities for the development of disciplinary skills (politics, history, literature, philosophy, religion, etc.), and possibilities to build upon regional and language specialisation (such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Sanskrit, Indonesian, Hindi and Tibetan). Master students in Asian Studies develop sophisticated theoretical and methodological tools for scholarly reflexivity as well as tools specific for their research projects – which may be framed in more conventionally disciplinary and regional terms. They are guided to understand the parameters of the various disciplines and the ways in which they may be creatively combined into sophisticated forms of inter-disciplinarity, suitable to their subject matter. Students develop in-depth knowledge of one of the regions of Asia (East Asia, South or Southeast Asia, including Tibet), and/or a transregional/comparative perspective that tracks particular themes through their relationship with ‘areas.’
In the course of October, the students of the MA Asian Studies (research) are coupled with their research and thesis supervisor, one of the professors involved in the programme who (preferably) works on a topic of interest to the individual student. Together with the research and thesis supervisor, the student composes a programme which caters to her or his interest.
The programme consists of four semesters with a course load of 30 EC each. The courses have a weight of 10 EC each (a limited number of courses have a weight of 5 EC) and students generally follow three courses per semester. During the first year students have to take two Common Core Courses: ‘Critical Area Studies: Placing Your Research’ (Fall Semester) and ‘Methodologies in the Social Sciences and Humanities ’ (Spring Semester). The first one of these courses is obligatory for all students of both the MA Middle Eastern Studies (research) and the MA Asian Studies (research) and attended by them jointly. The other one may be replaced by courses from one (or more) of the [national Dutch research schools in the Humanities.
Besides these Common Core Courses students take elective courses. The programme offers two kinds of electives: “core electives” and “electives”. Students need to choose at least two “core elective” courses (20 EC in total) during their first year. These core electives are courses which are also attended by regular MA students, but they aim at the same time at offering an extra intellectual challenge to the students of the research MA: during the course more challenging literature is read and extra tutorials are offered by the converners of the courses to discuss the literature read. Moreover, the assignments are assessed at a higher level to cater to the higher intellectual need of research MA students. Alternatively, students may opt to join LIAS PhD candidates in the LIAS PhD Seminars.
The remaining regular “electives” (20 EC in total) are courses attended jointly with the students of the regular MAs and lack the extra challenges offered by the “core electives”.
It is also possible to take courses from other programmes, but when students choose to do so, they need to obtain approval from the Board of Examiners first. Students should be aware, though, that for some of the courses a certain level of knowledge of a particular language is required (see course descriptions).
N.B. In the right column under files you will find a useful document explaining more about which courses can be replaced by which other courses.
Students are expected to spend the third semester of the programme on their research research project. They may combine this research project with taking a course of maximum 10 EC either in Leiden or at an affiliated institution.
After the students have finished their research project, they write their Research MA Thesis. The process of writing is supported by a “Thesis Seminar” which is offered bi-weekly. Students present their research during this seminar and discuss relevant issues with their peers.
| Year I | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Semester 1 | Common Core Course: Critical Area Studies (10 ec) | Core Elective Course (10 ec) | Elective Course (10 ec) |
| Semester 2 | Common Core Course: Methodologies in the Social Sciences and Humanities or Research School courses (10 ec) | Core Elective Course (10 ec) | Elective Course (10 ec) |
| Year II | ||
|---|---|---|
| Semester 3 | (Core) Elective Course (≤ 10 ec) | Research Project (≥ 20 ec) |
| Semester 4 | Thesis and Thesis Writing Seminar (30 ec) |
In the first year the students start working on their individual research project proposal, while the research project itself will take place in the first semester of the second year. This will result in a master’s thesis. The thesis must be based on the student’s own research, including primary data. The fourth semester is entirely reserved for the writing of the thesis. During this semester, the students gather on a regular base under the guidance of Prof. Jonathan Silk in the Thesis Writing Seminar to discuss their progress.
In order to graduate, students need to have successfully completed the 120 EC programme including the thesis (30 EC) as part of that programme. The thesis should be related to the expertise of at least one of the members of staff involved in the programme.
MA Asian Studies (research) programme
P.O.Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Witte Singel 27a, 2311BG Leiden
Herta Mohr Building
Witte Singel 27A
2311BG Leiden
Phone +31 (0)71 527 2253
E-mail osz-oa-Mohr@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Or make an appointment.
Nicole A.N.M. van Os, PhD
E-mail: stuco-resma-as-mes@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Office hours: make an appointment through this link.
The introductory meeting of this programme will take place on Tuesday, September 3rd, and start at 13 h (no endtime determined yet) in room Herta Mohr - 0.18. Further details will follow later.
Directions on how to get from Leiden Central Station to the Faculty of Humanities.
Most rooms are situated at the Witte Singel Doelen-Complex, the location of the Faculties of Humanities.
You can find the courses for the academic year 2024-2025 and the detailed course descriptions in the Prospectus. Find your programme under Middle Eastern Studies (research) to view all courses on offer. Note that these may be updated (and thus still change) until 1st September!
The timetables are available through MyTimetable. Here you can also find what courses start when. Some of them will start in the week of September 2nd, others a week later in the week of September 9th.
Please note that changes in the timetable may still occur during the summer.
For information on the exam periods, (official) holidays, etc see the Academic Calendar 2024-2025.
Make sure to complete your enrolment no later than 31 August. For this you need to:
pay the tuition fees;
accept the offer in the online application portal;
hand in all required documents at the Admissions Office as per the instructions in your admission statement.
Once your enrolment with Leiden University is complete and you have received your Student Identity Number, log in name and password, you will be able to enroll online for all courses (and later for exams) through MYStudyMap. You may also want to have a look at this FAQ.To make sure your register for the right (version of the) course, make sure to read the item "Course registration" in the course descriptions.
To find out what books you will need for next year, you can visit the Prospectus. Here you will find the course descriptions of the courses you will be taking, with the required literature. Most professors use Brightspace for a detailed list of literature. As soon as you are registered for a course, you will have access to the relevant Brightspace module.
General information on the programme is available at the Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA) website. You will have to log in the first time you visit this page. Once you have done this your cookies will enable you to enter this page further without problems.
For questions related to more general issues of registration, housing and other practicalities around your coming to Leiden and Leiden University, please, refer to the university's FAQ base.
For any other questions you may contact the educational advisor, Ms. Nicole van Os.
In addition to offering you a solid university education, Leiden University aims to prepare you as well as possible for the labour market, and in doing so contribute to the development of your employability. In this way, it will become easier for you to make the transition to the labour market, to remain employable in a dynamic labour market, in a (career) job that suits your own personal values, preferences and development.
'Employability' consists of the following aspects that you will develop within your study programme, among others:
Discipline-specific knowledge and skills
Knowledge and skills specific to your study programme.
Transferable skills
These are skills that are relevant to every student and that you can use in all kinds of jobs irrespective of your study programme, for example: researching, analysing, project-based working, generating solutions, digital skills, collaborating, oral communication, written communication, presenting, societal awareness, independent learning, resilience.
But also think of job application skills: preparing a CV, formulating a cover letter, compiling a LinkedIn profile, networking, practising job interviews, preparing and holding a pitch.
Self-reflection
This involves reflecting on your own (study) career (choices), reflecting on your own profile and your personal and professional development. Gaining insight into, among other things, your competences and personality, your (work) values and motives. what can you do with your knowledge and skills on the labour market?
Who are you, what can you do well, what do you find interesting, what suits you, what do you find important, what do you want to do?
Practical experience
Gaining practical experience through practical and social internships and work placements, external research internships and projects, practical assignments, which are integrated into an elective, minor or graduation assignment, business challenges etc.
Labour market orientation
Gaining insight into the labour market, fields of work, jobs and career paths through, for example, guest speakers from the work field, alumni presentations and experiences, career events within the study programme, the use of the alumni mentor network, interviewing people from the work field, and shadowing/visiting companies in the context of a particular subject.
Every year, various activities take place, within, alongside and outside of your study programme, which contribute to your preparation for the labour market, especially where it concerns orientation towards the work field/the labour market, (career) skills and self-reflection. These may be information meetings on decision moments within your programme, but also career workshops and events organised by your own programme, the faculty Career Service or your study association.
For example:
Workshops and (faculty) career events organised by the (faculty) Career Services
Information about choices, (optional) subjects, honours education, study abroad, internships
Humanities Career Event (in April)
Advanced Seminar
Study abroad festival (in Fall)
The Career Service of your faculty offers information and advice on study (re)orientation and master's choice, (study) career planning, orientation on the labour market and job applications.
Leiden University Career Zone is the website for students and alumni of Leiden University to support their (study) career. You can find advice, information, (career) tests and tools in the area of (study) career planning, career possibilities with your study, job market orientation, job applications, the Alumni Mentor network, job portal, workshops and events and career services.
On the course calendar you will find an overview of career and application workshops, organised by the Career services.