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Elective courses

Elective courses enable students to gain deeper insight into scientific topics of their choice, and they prepare students for their individual graduation project. They can be elected from Leiden University, but also from other (inter)national universities.

The most important rule: petition on time!

Permission for elective courses should be requested before the start of the course and is granted on an individual basis. In order to get permission for your elective courses, you have to submit a petition using this form.

It takes a couple of weeks to process an application.

Step-by-step

Here is a step-by-step outline of how to request elective courses. Also, familiarize yourself with the rules, restrictions, and suggestions below it.

  1. Choose your elective courses. See below on what courses apply and how to select them.
  2. For each of the courses you will have to attach a PDF document to your application. The PDF should contain screenshot(s) of the course description in the corresponding studyguide, information that demonstrates the context in which the course is given (part of which master(/bachelor) program), and a clickable url to the corresponding page in the studyguide.
  3. Draft a short motivation of why you want to take these particular electives and how they contribute to your studies. You may want to explain how the courses prepare you for your graduation project.
  4. Submit the petition
  5. The petition is discussed at the first meeting of the Media Technology "board" and a corresponding advice is formulated. The dates of these meetings can be found in the program’s google calendar (ICAL, html).
  6. The advice is forwarded to the LIACS Board of Examiners (BoEx) who will formally approve/reject it.
  7. Only after the BoEx approves, the petition is accepted (read more below).
  8. Upon completing an external course, you send a certified transcript of the grade to the Education Coordinator (mediatechnology@liacs.leidenuniv.nl). A certified transcript is a transcript that has been officialy certified by the external university. Grades for courses offered by Leiden University are administered automatically.

Rules, restrictions, suggestions and uSis

We do not compile lists of eligible elective courses. Elective courses can be for instance from the fields of Computer Science, Psychology, Art History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Engineering, etcetera. It is allowed to follow elective courses at other (inter)national universities.

From your personal interest start browsing online course lists, from Leiden University, but also from other universities and possibly art schools.

We do have a growing number of courses that are approved in general. You can find the overview in the study guide. You don't have to apply for permission for pre-approved courses.

Some restrictions regarding course levels apply:

  • Elective courses must be at Master level. At Leiden University, this means level 400 and higher (also for other universities with the same level system). For universities that use other level systems, make sure the course is taught at Master level.
  • Maximally 5 elective EC points can be obtained at advanced level (level 300 at Leiden University). Permission is on an individual basis and restrictions apply.
  • Of these 5 EC points, maximally 3 EC can be obtained at introductory level (levels 100/200 at Leiden University). Permission is on an individual basis and restrictions apply.

Some courses (although rare) are "honours courses", so called because their ECs do not count towards completing one's curriculum. Students are encouraged to take part in them, but they cannot be used as electives.

Other universities may award "half credits", such as 7.5 EC points. Leiden University does not accept half credits, and will always round downward. For example, 7.5 EC becomes 7 EC.

Other universities may also give a course grade 5.5, which is not accepted by Leiden University. In these cases, the final grade is rounded to 5. All other course grades (so not 5.5) are rounded to the nearest half point excluding 5.5. For example, 7.3 becomes 7.5, 5.4 becomes 5, etcetera.

The "Media Technology Board" will discuss your petition during the next board meeting (uSis status "In Progress") and pass their advice to the LIACS Board of Examiners (BoEx), who can formally approve/reject it.

The LIACS Board of Examiners (BoEx) will inform you regarding the result(s) of your petition.

The faculty's administration will register the approval in uSiS and you will receive a corresponding notification.

Please note that approval of the BoEx does not automatically grant you admission into a course, you must always register for the course and examination in uSis as well.

 

Upon completing an external course, you send a certified transcript of the grade to the Education Coordinator (mediatechnology@liacs.leidenuniv.nl). A certified transcript is a transcript that has been officialy certified by the external university. Your grade can only be registered in uSis after sending a certified document with your grade. Grades for courses offered by Leiden University are administered automatically.

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