Study abroad

Leiden University offers plenty of opportunities to study or follow an internship abroad. This will, literally, open up a new world for you, boost your chances on the job market and allow you to develop as a person too.

Why should you study abroad?

Studying or doing an internship abroad will widen your horizons in so many ways:

• It will expose you to different educational systems and cultures
• It will look good on your CV and increase your chances on the job market.
• It will enlarge your network and help you meet people from all over the world.
• It will be good for your personal development. It will improve your language skills.
• Now is the ideal time to gain international experience; it’ll be much more difficult later.

Studying abroad during or after your master’s programme?

We recommend that students who are following a two-year master’s or research master’s do part of it abroad. Given that you will be delving much deeper into the material, you’ll find it a really worthwhile experience. You can also go abroad if you’re doing a one-year master’s, but this is usually more difficult. Your study adviser can help.

You can also go abroad after completing your studies, to follow a master’s or an additional master’s programme, for example. But bear in mind that you will have to make all the arrangements yourself as you are no longer a student of Leiden University.

Exchange programmes

The easiest way to study abroad is to participate in an exchange programme. Leiden University offers exchange programmes with hundreds of international universities, some of which are among the best universities in the world, such as the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan. The main advantages are that you won’t have to pay the foreign university’s tuition fees and the credits you earn will count towards your programme. Check out the many exchange programmes that will enable you to study abroad.