Scholarship students feted in Leiden's Town Hall
Around 150 international scholarship students at Leiden University were invited to Leiden's Town Hall on Wednesday 16 November. They were each presented with a certificate by deputy-Mayor Paul Dirkse to mark their study time in Leiden.
Every year Leiden University awards students from all parts of the world a scholarship so that they can study here. The funding for the present group of students - bachelor's, master's and PhD candidates - came from no fewer than 31 different scholarship programmes.
Chinese are the biggest group
The present group of students represents more than forty different countries. The biggest group is from China, thanks to an additional scholarship programme for PhDs with several Chinese universities. Students from Indonesia and Ukraine are also well represented, a number of them having received a scholarship from the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) programme. This is an EU programme that allows higher education institutions to apply for subsidies to facilitate the international mobility of students and members of staff.
Extra certificates
The thirteen scholarship students in the Holland Scholarship programme received an extra certificate from this programme, presented in a symbolic gesture by Hester Bijl, Vice-Rector Magnificus of Leiden University. The recipients of a LExS scholarship also received an additional certificate, in their case during a festive gathering in the Academy Building prior to the start of the Academic Year.