This information page is composed for students of the Bachelor programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.
How to compose your own elective package
The free elective space of 30 EC can also be filled by various electives that can be followed at any Dutch academic program other than CA-OS in Leiden (within Leiden University, but also at other Dutch universities).
Unlike the Leiden Minors who are by definition suitable for filling in the freedom of choice, the optional packages must be explicitly approved by the CA-OS Examination Board.It is therefore advisable for students to submit Usis petitions in advance to add such courses to the Bachelor’s programme, that is to say, before beginning external courses (see the Elective courses tab).
The following guidelines of the Examination Board for approval of electives will help in choosing courses:
When approving UL courses, a maximum of 10 EC at level 100 may be added to the third-year elective space, but the rest of the third-year electives must be at a higher level.
In principle, electives should fall within the areas of social sciences, behavioural sciences, archaeology, the humanities, economics, or law. Academic language courses are suitable with the exception of English language proficiency courses. Subjects from other disciplines may be added to the 3rd year Bachelor’s CA-OS, but students must state their motivation and the courses’ coherence with the rest of the CA-OS 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 music theory subjects at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Please note:
Students who do a CA-DS Internship and thereby earn 20 EC for the free elective space, need fill in only 10 ECs with free elective courses. Those who go to the Philippines with CA-DS must follow 20 EC of free elective courses.
Students may take more than 30 EC elective courses, but should not forget to mark them as extracurricular education (see the tab 'Electives', situation 4.)
Taking electives abroad
Within the study exchange abroad you also follow free electives. An exchange must in most cases be initiated at least half a year in advance by contacting the exchange coordinator Matthijs Kallenberg.
Courses taken in the context of study abroad should be approved in advance by the CA-DS Examination Board 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.