Political Science

We are very happy to welcome you to spend the fall semester, spring semester or full academic year studying with us at the Institute of Political Science Leiden or campus The Hague. Here you will find practical information as an exchange student.

Application and admission

The application procedure for incoming exchange students goes through the central Student and Educational Affairs Office (SEA) in Leiden. In order to qualify for exchange at Political Science there needs to be an agreement in place between your home university and either the Institute of Political Science in a specific agreement or a university-wide agreement with Leiden University as a whole.

All exchange students need to satisfy the minimum academic entry requirements for admission. For more details on the general requirements from the University of Leiden, see the webpage Admission Requirements. For admission at the Institute of Political Science, a GPA of 3.2 out of 4.0 and at least one year of prior academic study is required, unless otherwise agreed upon in the bilateral agreements. English language requirements also apply as stated in the agreements.

Please note that when you come on an exchange agreement between the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University and the Political Science department of your home university, you are often required to take up to a total of 15 ECTS of your courses at the Institute of Political Science minimally. In order to start your application, your home university coordinator has to nominate you via the Leiden University nomination portal. Instructions will be sent to your home university directly. As soon as your nomination is approved by SEA, you will receive instructions to visit the Leiden University application portal to start your application.

The required documents for all students are:

• Letter of motivation;
• Nomination form;
• Official transcript as issued by your home university’s Registrar;
• Copy of your passport ID (only the page with your personal details):
• Copy of student ID
• English language certificate (per the requirements)

Once your application file is complete, and you meet the admission criteria, you must be admitted to several specific courses before an offer of admission can be extended. We recommend that students do not book flights and make other travel arrangements before receiving their offer of admission from Leiden University.

• The application deadline for the Fall semester (starting begin September) is 1 April.
• The application deadline for the Spring semester (start begin February) is 15 October.

After you have been offered admission, the SEA Deparment will assist you further with e.g. visa, registration at the University, and housing. The exchange officer of Political Science will inform you more about the course registration, start of the semester (including introduction activities), etc.

More information can be found on the web page Study abroad/exchange admission and application.

Intake appointment

All exchange students coming from partner universities of the Institute of Political Science are welcome to contact our incoming-exchange coordinator at the beginning of the Fall or Spring semester to help you get settled into our faculty and to get your studies off to a good start. If an intake appointment is not possible, you can make an online appointment with our exchange coordinator and send in your learning agreements and other Erasmus documents like Arrival or Attendance Forms requiring a signature by email.

The exchange coordinator for Political Science:

Useful app and websites

Our ICT services, including the Leiden University App, help to make studying easier. In the app you will find all kinds of services, which you can start using once you've received a ULCN account: 

uMail
As a student of Leiden University you will receive an uMail address, login with your ULCN account. All correspondence from the university will be sent via uMail. Make sure to check it regularly, so you stay informed. Tip: You can forward the mails to your private email address.

Prospectus
Leiden University offers courses in Political Science for Exchange and Study Abroad students. You will find more information about the content, books, learning outcomes, schedules, location (Leiden or The Hague) and prerequisites in our online course catalogue Prospectus.

Brightspace
We offer online and offline education. Brightspace is our online learning environment. Teachers and instructors will add additional information about their course. You can enroll yourself for Brightspace once you have an ULCN account and are registered for the courses in uSis.