Graduating

In order to be admitted to graduation, every student must have fulfilled all requirements of the Master programme of Political Science.

• Examination
• Thesis procedure
• Graduation and receiving your diploma
• Requirements
• Upcoming Master Graduation Ceremonies
• Grading
• Cum Laude

Examination

The Institute of Political Science expects the highest scholarly effort and achievement from students. Individual courses are examined in the form of written assignments, participation, and/or presentations. Timely completion of degree requirements is expected. The requirements of the programme are met when all courses have been passed successfully and the Master's thesis has been approved.

Thesis procedure

Students should take into account that their supervisors may take up to three weeks to make an assessment of the final version of the thesis and that supervisors are not available for consultation and assessment through July-August.
For the procedure of writing your thesis, also see the course prospectus of the respective master programme.

Graduation and receiving your diploma

You can opt for receiving your diploma in one of two ways:

1. You can receive your diploma during a graduation ceremony. This ceremony will take place on fixed dates (see below). Please note the deadline for submission of your application for the graduation in the schedule below.

OR

2. You can pick up your diploma at the student desk or have your diploma sent to your private address. Please note that the preparation of the diploma will take about 4 – 6 weeks. (If you opt for having your diploma posted to you, you do so at your own risk. Leiden University will not be held responsible for items that go missing in the post).

Requirements

• Grades : In order to be admitted to graduation, every student must have fulfilled all requirements of the master programme. This means that all grades, for all courses and thesis, must be known and registered at the secretariat before the end of the academic year (31 August). As soon as all grades are in, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the administration.   
  
• Thesis : The secretariat needs three copies of the final version of the thesis, one for both supervisors and one for the Faculty of Social Sciences library (or one copy if both supervisors already have a final version). Please note that our faculty library will only accept a bound version.
  
• Finances : All financial requirements with the Students Info Centre  must be fulfilled. You can contact them (tel. 071-527 8011) if you have any additional questions.

Upcoming Master Graduation Ceremonies

Grading

The Masters-level programmes of Leiden University's Institute of Political Science attract students from a variety of countries. The grading systems of these countries are often quite different from the Dutch system. Given the variety of grading systems, we cannot and do not provide grade translations (just as universities abroad do not provide grades according to the Dutch scale). Grades above 9 are rarely awarded. At Leiden University, the grade of 5.5 does not exist. The Dutch scale should be interpreted as follows: 
 

Cum Laude

Read more about the Cum Laude regulation in the Course and Examination Regulations. Search for article 4.6 in the document 'Rules and Regulations Examination Committee'.