Universiteit Leiden

The course is multidisciplinary,  with a focus on different aspects like world history, global political economy, political science and area studies. It is great if you are looking for a comprehensive humanities program.

The courses formed theoretical basis for understanding the world broadly, whilst also informing me of their application at a micro level. After the first year, we focus on an area of study, mine being North America (US, Mexico, Canada). The economic, cultural and political makeup of North America are taught to become an expert in the region. The International Studies course was excellent, with many hours of contact time between the tutor and the student per week, the course in excellent value for money (Especially compared to UK universities which cost three times the amount for a third of the contact time).

Ever since I've started my program, I can safely say I have been challenged since day 1, both academically and with personal self-growth. I think the way Leiden University, particularly the CADS program, teaches its students ensures they are well-developed and ready for the workplace. My mind has been opened to think outside the box in all sorts of streams - be it commerce, social science, research, sustainability or media. With this program, I feel like I have learned a variety of skills that are applicable to a diversity of careers, which is quite hard to find.

I studied Archaeology at Leiden as a first-generation, neurodivergent, international student from an immigrant working-class background. Tuition and housing were struggles. As for the facilities:  the library is decent most labs most labs are limited to visual analysis with almost no opportunities for bio-chemical or direct research. The exams mostly consist out of standardized multiple-choice exams  which disadvantage neurodivergent students, and actual mentorship is non-existent. 
Course selection still is limited and follows a “first-come-first serve” mentality which is unprofessional and limiting the students. Internships and field schools are often traumatic experiences for the students . The Archaeology student association TERRA was socially toxic during my time, dominated by attention-seeking bullies who slandered and exploited fellow students. Marginalized voices: including mine (because yes, the working class and intra-European immigrants also count as marginalized), were repeatedly silenced, and DEI committees and student support staff often failed to protect students while sometimes engaging in exclusionary or discriminatory (even racist) behaviour themselves. People decorate themselves with topics of social justice and redefining it in a way so that it only serves them. This raises significant questions about the state of affirmative action at a neoliberal/ conservative university that publicly claims to value inclusion.
Open discussion of Marxism and leftist perspectives is actively discouraged, making it clear that critical engagement with inequality is unwelcome in the faculty. 
Leiden is the perfect environment for rich, conservative students who failed to get into Oxford or Cambridge. They have failed so hard that they now have to step on the people from below, taking opportunities from ordinary people and the proletariat. The system reproduces inequality, elitism, and capitalist logic at every turn, and field schools, internships, TERRA, and other social structures often reinforce this hierarchy.
“The higher nobility struggles against the monarchy, the bureaucrat against the nobility, and the bourgeois against them all, while the proletariat already begins to find itself struggling against the bourgeoisie.” —Marx, 1844

Je suis étudiant a l'université de Leiden, dans le campus de La Haye.  Je fais un programme multidisciplinaire nommé "International Studies", qui permet d'avoir une approche généraliste sur les sciences  politiques et sociales, mais aussi de se spécialiser dans une région du monde pour y apprendre une langue et les matières appliquées a cette région (Par exemple économie de L'Asie de L'Est).

Je suis très satisfait de mon expérience dans cette université, notamment grâce a la qualité de l'éducation et de la vie étudiante (très internationale) a La Haye.