Career Preparation
Labour market preparation in South and Southeast Asian Studies
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:
1. Discipline-specific knowledge and skills
Knowledge and skills specific to your study programme.
2. 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.
3. Self-reflection
This concerns self-reflection in the context of your (study) career, including reflecting on the choices you make as a student during your studies, what can you do with your knowledge and skills on the labour market?
In addition, reflecting on your own profile and your personal and professional development. 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?
4. Practical experience
Gaining practical experience through internships, work placements, projects, practical (social) assignments, which are integrated into an elective, minor or graduation assignment.
5. Labour market orientation
Gaining insight into the labour market, fields of work, jobs and career paths through, for example, guest speakers and alumni experiences from the work field, 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.
Employability in South and Southeast Asian Studies
You will also find these employability elements in your study programme. Examples of subjects that pay attention to this are:
Seminar 1: Classical Cultures of South and Southeast Asia in year 1 provides an excellent grounding in transferable skills: The seminar combines content-focused lectures and readings with study materials and practical exercises focused on training students in specific library and academic skills, such as reading and abstracting, presenting, essay-writing, and using online resources for academic purposes. Library skills are offered by staff of the University Library during separate meetings.
Hindu Myths in the Art of South and Southeast Asia incorporates training in the use of digital humanities skills.
Seminar II & III brings together students of the second and third year. The setting allows them to hone important skills through group work and discussion: to develop critical analysis, to improve their ability to present and contest arguments, visual presentations skills at a higher level.
Economies of South and Southeast Asia teaches important skills to access main economic databases, retrieve and build simple dataset, and use it as evidence to support your arguments and analysis about the economy.
Activities to prepare for the labour market alongside / outside the curriculum
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 activities could be hosted by your study program to discuss the key decision stages within your program but also career workshops and events organised by the Humanities Career service or your study association.
For example:
Humanities Career Service, LU Career Zone and Career Workshops Calender
Humanities Career Service
The Humanities Career Service offers information and advice on internships, study (re)orientation and master's choice, orientation on the labour market and careers.
Leiden University Career Zone
The 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.
Workshops and events
On the Workshops calendar you will find an overview of career and application workshops, organised by the Humanities Career Service.
More info
1. Attainment levels and programme objectives
An overview of the attainment levels of the BA programma South and Southeast Asian Studies can be found in the Teaching and Examination Regulations.
2. Academic Integrity
Students should familiarize themselves with the notion of academic integrity and the ways in which this plays out in their own work. A good place to start is this page. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students may not substantially reuse texts they have previously submitted in this or other courses. Minor overlap with previous work is allowed as long as it is duly noted in citation.
3. Binding Study Advice (BSA) Regulations
Binding Study Advice (BSA) For students who first registered as doing a major at Leiden University after 1996, the “Leiden study system” with Binding Study Advice applies. This system sets out requirements regarding the academic achievements of the first-year student, but also offers better guidance by way of the mentorship and study progress sessions with the coordinator of studies. The aim of this system is finding out as quickly as possibly whether the student is fit for the newly chosen studies and whether the studies fit the student.
**To receive a positive advice, the student should obtain at least 45 EC of the propaedeuse programme during the first year INCLUDING the following component: Classical Cultures of South and Southeast Asia Seminar I. **
The board of examiners will provide two written recommendations during the first year. The board of examiners provides the first progress advice in January, which will be based on the achievements of the first semester. Students who end their enrolments before 1 February of the current academic year are no longer entitled to a study advice or a binding study advice. The second advice will follow no later than 15 August. Students who have obtained less than 45 EC will receive a binding negative advice. This means that the students in question are not allowed to continue the South and Southeast Asian Studies programme in Leiden. The limitation period for this rejection is four years. Naturally, personal circumstances will be taken into account, such as illness or serious family reasons. It is therefore important that students inform the coordinator of studies about personal problems in a timely fashion. The department keeps a file of every student with information that is relevant to the BSA. The student is entitled to examine this file (at the coordinator of studies’) and to add information to this file.
4. Study guidance
During the first year, the students get intensive coaching by a mentor and a student mentor. The study adviser co-ordinates the coaching and has more formal and individual conversations with the students if necessary. As of the second semester, the study adviser discuss the organization of the curriculum for the next semester with each student individually.
5. Studying with a disability
The university is committed to supporting and accommodating students with disabilities as stated in the university protocol (especially pages 3-5). Students should contact Fenestra Disability Centre at least four weeks before the start of their courses to ensure that all necessary academic accommodations can be made in time conform to the above-mentioned protocol.
6. Description of the programme
The three-years bachelor programme South and Southeast Asian Studies provides students with a thorough knowledge of a fascinating and dynamic region. The emphasis lies on India, Tibet and Indonesia, but other countries in South and Southeast Asia will also be discussed. The approach in this regional studies programme is multidisciplinary and enables students to acquire knowledge about e.g. the languages, religions, art, culture and current politics of the region. A consistent emphasis is placed on language as a window on South and Southeast Asian Cultures. Students specialize in one of the following languages: Indonesian, Hindi, Tibetan, or Sanskrit.
Programme curriculum
The first year: propaedeuse
During the first year, the programme lays a foundation for studying various aspects of the region, including the history, culture and modern society in South and Southeast Asia. Students also choose a number of courses themselves: they opt for one of the four languages and for one of the three major religions in the region. Furthermore, one course, “Area Studies”, will be taken together with other students of the Faculty of Humanities.
The second year
In the second year, all students will take a course entitled “Reading South and Southeast Asia” in the first semester and “Seminar 2: Current Affairs of South and Southeast Asia” in the second semester, which follows on from the first year course “Seminar 1: Classical Cultures of South and Southeast Asia”. The students, furthermore, continue studying the language they have chosen in the first year. The programme, moreover, offers a choice between two specializations: “Modern South and Modern Southeast Asia” and “Classical Cultures of South and Southeast Asia”. For two semesters, students attend lectures belonging to the chosen specialization. They also attend an elective course South and Southeast Asia during the first semester of the second year. This elective course can be either a course from the “own” specialization or a course from the other specialization. In the second semester, all students will take the course “Philosophy of Science” together with other students of the Faculty of Humanities.
The third year
During the first semester of the third year, students go abroad to gain more in-depth knowledge of the relevant language and region. There is an alternative programme in Leiden for students who are unable to go abroad. During the second semester, students attend “Seminar 3: Current Affairs of South and Southeast Asia”, which follows on “Seminar 2: Heritage of South and Southeast Asia.”. In addition, each student writes a BA Thesis.
Discretionary space
In addition, students take electives to fill the discretionary space of 30 EC. For those students following the semester abroad in the first half year of the teaching year, 15 of the 30 EC consists of discretionary courses taken at the host university. Students can choose to take courses from a completely different field (“broadening”). Students can also choose to take courses from the South and Southeast Asia programme (“deepening”). It is also possible to obtain a part of the 30 EC with an internship. More information (in Dutch) on the different electives and options can be found on the relevant website.
7. Related master programmes/pre-master tracks
The bachelor diploma South and Southeast Asia Studies (SSEAS) gives access to the master Asian Studies (60 EC).
8.Parttime and fulltime
The BA programme South and Southeast Asian Studies is offered as a fulltime programme only.
9. Grades
Partial grades expire at the end of each academic year. A student who has obtained one or more partial grades but has not completed the course unit as a whole, cannot claim the previously obtained partial results in the following academic year.
Article 4.7.4, Education and Examination Regulations for Bachelor's Programs, Faculty of Humanities. See: OER 2025-2026 BA FGW.
