Keuzegids: six top bachelor's programmes at Leiden University
Leiden University has six top bachelor's programmes according to Keuzigids universiteiten 2025, a consumer guide to university programmes. This puts Leiden in fourth place of the broad-based universities.
The top programmes are as follows:
- Biomedical Sciences
- Classics
- Clinical Technology (this programme is a collaboration with Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam)
- Liberal Arts and Sciences: Global Challenges
- Dutch Language and Culture
- Religious Studies
‘I’m proud of all our top programmes’, said Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl. ‘That they score so high in the opinion of our students is a real boost for our teaching staff. Things aren’t easy at the moment given the cuts the university is facing. We have to continue to improve and develop our teaching come what may. And one way we are doing so is through the results of the National Student Survey upon with the Keuzegids is based.’
Assessment
The annual Keuzegids is an independent guide for prospective students, which assesses and compares the quality of all degree programmes. It contains all current university bachelor’s programmes and focuses on differences between them. The scores are based in part on student opinions from the annual National Student Survey (NSE). Over 268,000 students took this survey in 2024. Keuzegids also contains information about the intake, progression and career perspectives of the different programmes. A programme is deemed to be a top programme when it earns more tahn 75 of 100 points.
Above-average score for interdisciplinary teaching
Leiden had six top programmes last year too. Five are the same as last year and Religious Studies has joined them. German Language and Culture was a top programme in 2023 but did not earn this title this year because too few student filled in the NSE to provide a reliable score.
A number of programmes at the Faculty of Humanities have a very good score but did not earn enough points for the title of top programme. These include the Chinese Studies, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, English Langauge and Culture, and Italian Language and Culture.
Compared with other universities Leiden, like Groningen, is above average for interdisciplinary teaching.
Minor differences
These results put Leiden University in fourth place of the six broad-based universities in the ranking. Utrecht University, Radboud University and the University of Groningen take respectively first, second and third place. The differences between the universities are small. Groningen, for example, has just half a point more than Leiden. Most universities score within the margin of the national average according to Keuzegids.