Leiden University

Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575 in Leiden by William of Orange. It grew with the Dutch Republic as a university of law, theology, and letters and later added medicine and science. Today it keeps a historic core in Leiden and a second campus in The Hague for governance, law, and international affairs.

Faculties include archaeology, humanities, medicine, governance and global affairs, law, science, and social and behavioural sciences. The Leiden University Medical Center is the teaching hospital. Graduate research in physics is associated with Hendrik Lorentz, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and Pieter Zeeman. International law, area studies, and Leiden Observatory remain major graduate concentrations.

About 33,000 students enroll, including a large master's population and a smaller Ph.D. group employed as researchers. International students make up a high share of master's cohorts and come from more than 120 countries. Alumni and historical students include legal scholar Hugo Grotius and several Dutch heads of government.

Master's degrees (M.A., M.Sc., LL.M., including research master's) last one or two years; the Ph.D. is a salaried appointment rather than a taught program. Coursework is seminar- and research-heavy on a semester calendar. Doctoral funding is typically a university or grant-funded employment contract. Graduate life splits between a compact canal city and The Hague's ministries and courts, a short train ride away.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Leiden University lists 32 graduate programs across 17 subjects: 30 master's programs and 2 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in physics, biology and earth & environmental sciences. Leiden University holds rank 115 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.