The Leiden University Graduate School of Humanities promotes the quality of our PhD candidates' selection, supervision, assessment, and training. Together with the Faculty institutes, the Graduate School of Humanities provides the organisational infrastructure within which PhD candidates participate in advanced training and supervised research.

Dean and Director of the Graduate School

The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Mark Rutgers, is ex officio the head of the Graduate School. His delegate is the Director of the Graduate School/PhD Programmes, Professor Marian Klamer, who is responsible for developing faculty policies relating to PhDs and represents the Dean in discussions on PhD policies in and outside the Faculty. The Director of PhD Programmes also takes decisions on such issues as the waiving of the MA requirement, the appointment of PhD supervisors and co-supervisors and the approvals in the final phase of PhD tracks, including the manuscript, the propositions and the composition of the PhD and examining committee. The Dean and the Director of PhD Programmes/the Graduate School is supported by the Graduate School Office.

Institutes

Six institutes of the Faculty of Humanities contribute to the Graduate School. Senior and junior members of the academic staff are appointed at one of these six institutes. The academic directors of the six institutes take care of and are responsible for, the PhD programme in the field of their institute. The supervision of PhD candidates throughout their programme is in the hands of the supervisors and co-supervisors who work at the institutes.

International environment

An appreciable number of PhD candidates come from abroad and the same applies to the academic staff and the post-doctorate fellows. English is the language of many academic meetings and daily conversations in research groups as well as in a growing number of courses and colloquia. 

Academic environment

Together with the Graduate School of Humanities, the Institutes provide an academic environment with seminars, workshops, performances, and exhibitions as well as opportunities for dialogue, quiet study, and focused experimentation.

MA Programmes

The Graduate School of Humanities has the formal-legal responsibility for all master's and research master's programmes in the field of Humanities. Leiden University offers over 30 different (mostly English-taught) master's programmes in the field of Humanities.

Information about the master's programmes available at the Leiden University Faculty of Humanities can be found here. Enquiries about the master’s programmes can be addressed to the study advisers of the programmes, as the main focus of the Graduate School of Humanities of Leiden University lies on the PhD trajectories within this faculty.