Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences (MSc)

Admission requirements

To be eligible for Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Diploma requirements

You are eligible to apply if you have:

A BSc degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences (Bio-Farmaceutische Wetenschappen) from any research university in the Netherlands.
OR
A bachelor’s degree in a Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences-related programme from a research university in the Netherlands, under the condition that you have accumulated at least 150 EC (or the equivalence thereof) in courses/projects belonging to the domain of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and have had basic research training in the field of life science including a 16 EC, level 400 (or equivalent) final research assignment, covering all aspects of the research cycle and being concluded with an individual research thesis written in academic English, and an oral presentation.|

You might be eligible to apply if you hold a bachelor’s degree in a related programme such as Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Informatics with the specialisation Informatics & Biology, Life Science and Technology, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Your eligibility to apply depends on the individual choices that you made within your programme, e.g. the choice of a minor programme and research project(s) in the domain of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Board of Admissions will assess whether your degree and background are sufficiently related to the BSc degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences. Only after a positive decision of the Board of Admissions you will be admitted to the programme.

Please note that admission to the specialisation in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Pharmacy is limited to only a few students each year. Selection of candidates for this specialisation takes place during the first year of the programme. For this specialisation, proficiency in Dutch is required.

For more information, please contact the Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences’ admission committee.

If you have a degree in Dutch higher vocational education (hbo/HLO) in a Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences-related field of science (e.g. Chemistry, Biomedical Sciences or equivalent field of Science), you are eligible to apply under the condition that you have:

accumulated at least 150 EC (or the equivalence thereof) in courses/projects belonging to the domain of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and have had basic research training in the field of life science including a 16 EC, level 400 (or equivalent) final research assignment, covering all aspects of the research cycle and being concluded with an individual research thesis written in academic English, and an oral presentation, obtained your degree within four years with a grade point average (GPA) above 7.5, and,
the research project that was included in the (hbo/HLO) programme must have been conducted at a research university or a university medical centre and must have been assessed with a grade above 8.0 (grades according to the Dutch grading scale).

Your eligibility to apply depends on the individual choices that you made within your programme, e.g. the choice of a minor programme and research project(s) in the domain of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Board of Admissions will assess whether your degree and background are sufficiently related to the level and content of the Dutch BSc degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and whether you meet the additional requirements. Only after a positive decision of the Board of Admissions you will be admitted to the programme.

Please note that admission to the specialisation in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Pharmacy is limited to only a few students each year. Selection of candidates for this specialisation takes place during the first year of the programme. For this specialisation, proficiency in Dutch is required.

For more information, please contact the Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences’ admission committee.

If you have a bachelor’s degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences or in a Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences-related programme from a foreign research university with a level similar to Dutch research universities, you are eligible to apply under the condition that you have:

accumulated at least 150 EC (or the equivalence thereof) in courses/projects belonging to the domain of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and have had basic research training in the field of life science including a 16 EC, level 400 (or equivalent) final research assignment, covering all aspects of the research cycle and being concluded with an individual research thesis written in academic English, and an oral presentation.

Please note that admission to the specialisation in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Pharmacy is limited to only a few students each year. Selection of candidates for this specialisation takes place during the first year of the programme. For this specialisation, proficiency in Dutch is required.

For more information, please contact the Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences’ admission committee.

Language requirements

The following requirements apply*:

IELTS Academic modules only, on paper or on computer: 6.5 overall, with at least 6.0 for each separate component score.
- We do not accept IELTS Academic online.
- We do not accept IELTS General Training, IELTS Indicator, or IELTS One Skill Retake
TOEFL internet based: 90 overall, with at least 20 for each separate component.
- We are not able to accept The TOEFL IBT Home Edition™, except in the following situation only:
  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.

Cambridge English Exam C2 Proficiency, or C1 Advanced (180), with a minimum score of 169 for each separate component.

Note that English test results may not be more than two years old and must be obtained in one single test.

*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 or (for September intake) a diploma of an English-taught higher professional education (hbo) programme completed at a Dutch university of applied sciences.

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

The admissions committee determines the units of study that demonstrate a particular language level obtained in a bachelor’s programme:
bachelor’s thesis/report of the final research project.

This section applies only to students without a vwo degree. For students with an international, non-Dutch diploma, the Code of Conduct for International Students in Higher (de gedragscode internationale student hoger onderwijs) applies.

The education component and the Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Pharmacy specialisation of this master's programme are taught in Dutch. All applicants that have not achieved a Secondary Education qualification in the Netherlands, have to demonstrate their Dutch communication skills. The level of Dutch is assessed through an advanced Dutch language exam. For more information about the exam: Admission Exam TUL Advanced.

A Dutch as a Second Language Certificate (Certificaat Nederlands als Vreemde Taal) at Educatief Startbekwaam or Educatief Professioneel level is also sufficient to meet the language requirement.

Mind: after completion of the Education specialisation you obtain a qualification to be a teacher in the Netherlands.

Additional information

We expect students to bring a regular laptop running Windows (or running Linux for certain study programmes). MacOS may in most cases also suffice (with Parallels for Windows installed), but not all specialized applications may be supported, and less support may be available.
•   Windows 11 compatible – 64-bits (or Linux for some study programmes)
•   Processor/CPU – modern, medium range
•   Memory/RAM – 8 GB, if possible 16 GB
•   Storage – 512 GB, if possible 1 TB

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