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Programme Details
Title
Master of Arts
Duration
2 years, full-time
Start dates
September and February
Language of instruction
English (Dutch in case only Dutch-speaking students attend a class or in case the subject of the class makes knowledge of Dutch necessary)
Responsibility
Programme director Institute for History
Address
Visiting address: Building: Johan Huizinga, Doelensteeg 16, Leiden
Secretary’s office: room 001
Openings hours: Monday, Tuesdag & Thursday, 9.00 am-12.00 pm; Wednesday, 13.30-16.30 pm
Phone: +31 (0)71 527 2651
Fax: +31 (0)71 527 2652
E-mail: geschiedenis@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Mailing address
Institute for History
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands ### Coordinator
Director of Studies: Dr. P.J.J. Meel
E-mail: p.j.j.meel@hum.leidenuniv.nl |
Objectives
Objective of the research master’s programme is to prepare students for an academic or semi-academic career, within or outside the university. The programme will therefore be aimed at shaping students into independent, creative and critical researchers who are able to conduct innovative research successfully and to produce a well-written thesis. The two-year study programme will provide ample opportunities to acquire general disciplinary knowledge and skills at master’s degree level as well as specific research skills. Much attention will be paid to the development of theories on historical processes, argumentation, historiography and methodology of historical research. The research master’s thesis should provide the basic components for a future PhD-thesis.
Specialisations
The research master’s programme is founded on the fields of research which are well represented in Leiden. The research programme of the Institute for History consists of five specialisations, each representing a specific approach to the study of history and each addressing specific historiographical traditions and methodological problems and possibilities.
Ancient History
Medieval and Early Modern European History
History of Migration and Global Interdependence
History of European Expansion and Globalisation
History of Political Culture and National Identities
Curriculum
The curriculum will take up four semesters of 30 ECTS each, and will allow regular master students to switch to the research master’s programme after the first semester (having obtained the Board of Admission’s approval), and vice versa.
The curriculum consists of a number of components, starting from a general introduction and leading towards the development of research skills.
In the first semester, students will be offered an introductory literature seminar and a research seminar in one of the five specialisations. The third course concentrates on historical methodology.
In the second semester, a second research seminar is taken, besides a general course on historical controversies which focuses on the development of theories on historical processes, historiography and methodology of historical research. In the tutorial, students will meet the senior university lecturer or professor who will supervise them and prepare them to conduct research independently, creatively and critically.
Students are encouraged to take optional courses in the third semester at a foreign partner university. The remainder of the second year of the programme (40 ECTS) is scheduled to carry out a substantial research project, which will be based on the student’s original research and collection of primary data in the Netherlands or abroad. The research master’s thesis should provide the basic components for a potential PhD-thesis, which can be written within the PhD-programme of the Institute for History. Also see: hum.leiden.edu/students/regulations.
NB: It is compulsory for all research master’s students to attend the monthly graduate seminar of the Institute for History during their two years of study. Furthermore, research master’s students are required to attend workshops organized by the specialisation of their choice.
Honours programme
Research master’s students have the opportunity to take part in the Crayenborgh Course, the honours class of Leiden University, in which various distinguished historians of the Netherlands and abroad discuss a historical theme. The Crayenborgh Course is extracurricular. Candidates will be selected on the basis of motivation and previous study results.
Admission
Admission is on the basis of a selection procedure. Previous education, study results, motivation and letters of recommendation will be taken into consideration for admission. The deadline for BA-students in the Institute for History of Leiden University to send in their BA-thesis is 1 June if they wish to start the research master’s programme in history in September, or 1 December if they wish to start in February. Students embarking on a Research MA programme need to have a BA-diploma at the moment they start with the MA programme.
Application deadlines:
Dutch students:
1 June, to start in September
1 December, to start in February.
Foreign students:
1 April, to start in September
1 October, to start in February.
