Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
The Middle East is often discussed through headlines, crisis, conflict, or cliché. This programme gives you the tools to move beyond those frames and study the region with depth, care, and critical perspective.
The two-year Research MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Leiden University allows you to explore the Middle East across time, borders, languages, and ideas: from the early Islamic world to contemporary politics, from Ottoman, Arab, Persianate, and North African histories to questions of migration, media, ecology, religion, literature, colonialism, and social change.
Why study Middle Eastern Studies (research) at Leiden University?
At Leiden, you will study in a research environment with a long-standing reputation for expertise in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. You can focus on a specific region, language, archive, period, or theme, or build a comparative project across disciplines and areas.
A key strength of the programme is its comparative Area Studies approach. You will learn to understand the Middle East not as a fixed or isolated region, but as a dynamic part of the world shaped by movement, exchange, empire, conflict, translation, and everyday life. This includes comparisons within the Middle East as well as connections with other regions, including Asia.
The programme is designed for students who want more than a general MA: more time for independent research, closer supervision, advanced methodological training, and the opportunity to develop their own scholarly profile.
Learn more about the study programme
What are your career prospects?
Our graduates have pursued successful careers in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Graduates have also gone on to pursue a PhD and a career in academia. If you wish to pursue an academic career, your Master's is excellent preparation for a PhD programme or a career in a research agency or the research department of a company or government organisation. Your strong analytical and problem-solving skills can also be applied in a wide range of other vocations.
Find out more about your career prospects
Is Middle Eastern Studies (research) the programme for you?
- Are you interested in the histories, languages, religions, literatures, politics, cultures, and societies of the Middle East?
- Do you want to study the region beyond stereotypes and simplified narratives?
- Are you curious, independent, and ready to develop your own research project?
Then the Research MA in Middle Eastern Studies may be a strong fit.
This programme is especially suited to students who want to engage deeply with the complexities of the Middle East, past and present, and who are looking for advanced research training, close supervision, and preparation for a PhD or another research-oriented career.
Do you want to find out if you are eligible for this Master's programme?
Check the admission requirements
A centre of expertise on languages and cultures of the world
If you’re interested in languages and cultures, Leiden University is the best place to study. The university’s global expertise places our programmes at the top. In Leiden and The Hague, we study languages and cultures from all regions of the world and from prehistory to the present day. In this way, we create a broad view of the world; the key to mutual understanding.
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