How to Compose a Personalized Elective Package
The free elective space of 30 ECTS can also be composed by a selection of electives from different Dutch academic programmes, either at Leiden University or other Dutch universities.
You can browse and search for elective courses at Leiden University in this Prospectus (other Dutch universities have their own course catalogues). As not all university courses are open to external students, please make sure to tick the box ‘Elective choice’ under ‘Course type’ in the filter menu. Any additional information, such as the course level, language, description and registration deadline, will be displayed in the course description.
Elective courses or a minor followed at other Dutch universities are also known as ‘external education’. For these, you must enroll as a guest student at the other university. Please contact the host university on how to enroll for the course.
Unlike the Leiden minors which are by definition suitable for filling in the free elective space, the elective packages must be explicitly approved by the Board of Examiners. This approval can be requested through a petitions in uSis. Students are advised to submit petitions for a personalized package in uSis in advance, that is, largely before courses begin. The SSC can help you file petitions in uSis.
The following guidelines from the Board of Examiners for approval of electives will help in selecting appropriate courses:
A maximum of 10 ECTS at level 100 is permitted as a third-year elective course, the other courses (at least 20 ECTS) must be at level 200 or higher.
In principle, electives should fall within the areas of social sciences, behavioural sciences, archaeology, the humanities, economics, public administration, or law. Academic language courses are suitable, with the exception of English language proficiency courses. Subjects from other disciplines may be added to the elective space, but students must state their motivation and the courses’ coherence with the rest of the CADS programme.
Subjects followed at universities of applied sciences (HBO's), are not suitable for filling in the free elective space, with the exceptions of the photography courses at the Royal Academy of Art in the Conservatoire (KABK) and some music theory subjects at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Please note:
Students who do a CADS internship and thereby earn 10-20 ECTS (depending on the overall size of the internship) for the free elective space, need to fill in only the remaining 20-10 ECTS with free elective courses.
Students may take more than 30 ECTS of elective courses, but should not forget to mark them as extracurricular education in their uSis study requirements (please consult the SSC for more information).
Taking Electives Abroad
Free electives can be followed abroad through the exchange/study abroad programme. Students must apply to study abroad well in advance, before specific application deadlines. More information about studying abroad can be found on Brightspace (Bachelor CADS Education Module > Study Planning > Elective Space (Year 3) > Study Abroad). If you have any questions about studying abroad, please contact the CADS Exchange Coordinator.
Courses taken in the context of study abroad should be approved in advance by the CADS Board of Examiners by way of the Learning Agreement. After returning to Leiden, students should submit petitions in uSis along with official transcripts of records to the SSC, so that courses and their results may be definitively added to Bachelor’s programme courses in uSis.
Please note that all grades from courses abroad will be converted to Pass or Fail to ensure consistency across different grading systems.