History

Degree: Master of Arts in History
Mode of Study: Full-time, Part-time (specialisations can differ)
Duration: 1 year (full-time) or 1,5 year (part-time) (specialisations can differ)
Start date: September, February (specialisations can differ)
Language of instruction: English (specialisations can differ)
Specialisations:
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The Leiden Institute for History has a broad and wide-reaching academic scope. The Master’s Programme in History is an accurate reflection of this academic range and offers you the chance to obtain a degree based on your own particular interests and ambitions. To enable you to pursue your own interests as much as possible, the various specialisations have a thematic focus. Within these specialisations there are also possibilities to concentrate on Maritime History, Political Debate, Economic History, or Archival Studies.

Its strong international orientation and focus on the study of European and non-European history in a global context gives the Leiden MA in History a unique character in the Netherlands. The wide range of chairs in history which include most European and non-European areas, combined with the unique archive material available in Leiden University and in nearby The Hague facilitates a study of nearly all areas of the world.

The information about this programme is available in the following languages:

Reasons to choose History in Leiden

  1. The Leiden University History department has a very committed teaching staff. Students consistently give the highest grades to their lecturers and professors in their course evaluations, Moreover, MA courses are given in small groups, enabling personal attention to the individual student.

  2. The Leiden History department has a broad and well balanced range of chairs in:
    • Ancient History;
    • Medieval History;
    • Dutch History;
    • Early Modern History;
    • Contemporary History;
    • American History;
    • Maritime History;
    • Social History;
    • Economic History.
      Adjacent departments in the Faculty of Humanities have chairs in Latin American, African, Turkish, Indonesian, Indian, Korean, Chinese and Japanese History, enabling students to study Dutch, European and non-European history in a global context.

  3. Leiden University is close to The Hague, not only the seat of the national library and the national archives, but also the centre of government, politics and international organisations. Leiden University probably offers the best opportunity to explore this world, study it, find trainee posts and eventually jobs. Even in our age of internet and globalisation, real distances still matter.

  4. Leiden University has a long tradition in the history of European expansion. Today, this tradition is still flourishing but in a new form, as the history of globalisation and migration, while still maintaining Leiden’s old expertise in the history of Asia and making use of the unique archives in Leiden and The Hague.

Prof. Henk te Velde

“Historians in Leiden use the riches of the University in order to give their students a good education.”

“Over a period of a few years, a whole new generation of professors has been appointed at the History Department in Leiden; the department is bustling with energy in a friendly and professional atmosphere. All sections of the department have their own attractions and strengths.

Our strong section of Ancient History, for instance, benefits from the presence in Leiden of the largest department of Classics in the Netherlands; Medieval History has a strong tradition of research in the later Middle Ages and is now joining forces with the specialists in the early modern period, who have a strong and promising research team working on public and private memory of the Dutch Revolt.

Historians of European expansion and globalisation are working together with specialists on non-European culture and history in other parts of the Faculty of Humanities, which has always been famous for its expertise in this field. They also co-operate with the specialists of the history of migration, which has rapidly developed into one of the new strengths of the department. One of the professors working in this area is based at the Campus The Hague of Leiden University.

In my own field of study, the history of political culture, we are working together with colleagues studying politics in such fields as political science and constitutional law. This combination also makes it easier to work together with government agencies, who are just around the corner, in The Hague. For classes on the history of political debate I myself benefit from the expertise of the colleagues of the Dutch department.

This again is just one example of the many ways historians in Leiden use the riches of Leiden University in order to give their students a good education and an exciting period of study.”