• You are eligible to apply for the MA Latin American Studies if you have: A bachelor’s degree from a Dutch research university in Latin American Studies; or
• A bachelor’s degree from a research university, equivalent to the level of a Dutch academic Bachelor’s degree; and
• comparable knowledge, understanding and skills with those acquired upon graduating from a Dutch research university in Latin American Studies, specifcally: 
  • elementary knowledge and understanding of the most important linguistic, cultural and/or historical developments in Latin America; and
  • the ability to deal with theories about the chosen research subject and to apply those theories into a concrete case study;

The Board of Admissions will assess whether your degree and background are sufficiently related to the level and content of a bachelor’s degree from a Dutch research university in Latin American Studies on the basis of the requirements specified above.

BA International Studies
Applicants with a bachelor’s degree from a Dutch research university in International Studies who have completed all area courses for Latin America and the programme’s Spanish or Portuguese language classes are regarded to have fulfilled all entry requirements.

Students with a Bachelor of Latin American Studies from Leiden University are directly eligible for admission and can apply in Studielink. There is no need to submit an application for admission using the online application portal.

If you have a bachelor’s degree from a research university that does not meet the requirements specified above, you may be eligible for a pre-master’s programme tailored to your individual background. After submitting your application in Studielink, the Board of Admissions will decide whether you can be directly admitted to the master’s programme, whether you will first need to complete a pre-master’s programme, or whether your deficiencies are considered too extensive and you can therefore not be admitted at all. It is not possible to directly apply for a pre-master’s programme. 

The language requirements for a pre-master's programme are identical to the language requirements for the master's programme for which admission has been requested. These requirements must be met before the start of the premaster.

Once you have completed the imposed pre-master’s programme, you will be admitted to the master’s programme. For more information about the individual pre-master’s programme, please contact the Coordinator of Studies.

For students with a bachelor’s degree at a university of applied sciences, equivalent to the level of a Dutch hbo bachelor’s degree, the Board of Admissions may impose a pre-master’s programme, tailored to the individual background of the prospective student, to be completed before admission into the MA programme.

For questions about the pre-master’s programme you can contact the coordinator of studies.

February 2024 intake:

In order to successfully participate in this programme, you must be proficient in English. The following requirements apply:

• IELTS: 7.0; with a score of at least 7.0 for each component.
  • We do not accept IELTS Academic online.
  • We do not accept IELTS General Training or IELTS Indicator.
• TOEFL (Internet based) 100, with a score of at least 25 for each components
  • We are not able to accept The TOEFL IBT Home Edition™, except in the following situations only:
    You took the test before 1 Sept 2022 (and it is not more than 2 years old), or you are unable to take an in-person test on location because test centres are inaccessible or closed due to unsafe conditions in a country.
  • We do not accept the following types of test: TOEFL My Best™ scores (multiple test scores combined), TOEFL Essentials™  or institutional tests such as ITP.

Note that English test results may not be more than two years old.

You do not have to submit an English proficiency test if you have completed your education in the USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada (except French-taught programmes in Canada) Singapore, South-Africa or Malta; or if you have obtained an English-taught International Baccalaureate™; or if you have completed a Dutch VWO diploma or an English-taught bachelor at a Dutch research university.

For detailed information, including exemption criteria and methods of submission, refer to English language proficiency.

From September 2024:

You must be sufficiently proficient in the language of instruction (to be assessed by the Board of Admissions):

• Spanish and/or Portuguese:
  • Listening: CEFR B2  
  • Reading: CEFR C1  
  • Spoken interaction: CEFR B2  
  • Spoken production: CEFR B2
  • Writing: CEFR B2
  • These are the levels of the BA Latin American Studies at Leiden University and other comparable academic degree programmes.
• Candidates who have previous knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese (e.g. heritage speakers) will be assessed by the Board of Admissions.