Individual requests to the Board of Examiners

The Board of Examiners processes individual requests from students regarding their studies. Students should approach  the Board of Examiners with their request in writing.

We distinguish between two types of requests for the Board of Examiners :

1. Individual queries from students for the Board of Examiners concerning their programme of study or other questions relating to the Regulations for Teaching and Examinations and/or the Rules & Regulations. Students can contact the Board of Examiners, via ISGA.BoE@fgga.leidenuniv.nl. Please always indicate your studentnumber, e-mailadress and all supporting evidence concerning individual request.

2. Students that the Board of Examiners receives in the form of appeals sent via the uSis programme, on which the board must reach a decision: students submit appeals through uSis.

Each of the two types of request entails a different procedure for students. These procedures are described below.

- All correspondence regarding submitted requests can only be made exclusively by mail.
- Terms within which the decision must be reached in different situations are described in the Rules and Regulations. In certain periods the board will reserve the right to exceed this limit. Students will be noticed when possible.  
- This term will start when all queries and/or accompanying documentation is/are received by the board.

1. Individual queries from students for the Examination Committee

For individual request to the Board of Examiners the following rules and procedures are applicable. Students can contact the Board of Examiners, via ISGA.BoE@fgga.leidenuniv.nl. Please always indicate your studentnumber, e-mailadress and all supporting evidence concerning individual request.

2. Submitting an appeal through uSis

The Board of Examiners must issue a decision on some matters it receives in the form of appeals that students need to submit using uSis (see uSis FAQ). These concern requests for exemption or substitution. Leiden University has five different types of appeals, each of which (see appeals explained) applies in a specific situation:

1. You should submit an appeal for Exemption if you want to ask to be exempted from a particular compulsory course in your study programme. You can do this if you want to substitute a course in the Public Administration curriculum with an equivalent course you have taken at another university or institution. You will need to supply supporting documentation for this.

As soon as you have submitted your appeal in uSis, an automatically generated message will be sent to your "u-mail" university e-mail address (so make sure that this address works!) in which you are asked to submit supporting documentation. Supporting documentation cannot be sent together with the appeal in uSis and therefore has to be sent separately – in hard copy (not by e-mail) to the administrative secretary of the Board of Examiners (see above).

The following documentation should be provided for an appeal for Exemption:

- A certified transcript, which must be an original, not a copy. If you only have one original, you can bring it in person to the Public Administration teaching service desk. There a copy will be made and stamped so that you can keep the original.

Note: Original documents sent to the Board of Examiners remain the boards property and will not be removed from the archives.
- A description of the relevant courses from the course catalogue of the institution where you took them.

Note: The Board of Examiners will only consider print-outs from the complete original course catalogue descriptions, not text copied into a Word document. Course descriptions should be as detailed as possible. In all cases, the following should be clear: what the number of ECTS units is, what reading materials were used, the course content and when the course was taken. In general, the more specific the information provided, the better and faster the Board of Examiners can make a decision.

Note: Course descriptions used for appeals for exemption must be from the same year that the course was taken.

Note: Supporting documentation sent to the Board of Examiners in connection with this type of appeal should be marked with the uSis appeal number.

2. You should submit an appeal for Exceptional Number of Units if you want to have a different number of units for a particular required course in the programme of study than the number listed in the course catalogue. You will need to supply supporting documentation for this.

3. You should submit an Extracurricular Course appeal if there is a course in the Leiden University course catalogue that you have taken during the course of your current programme of study and that you would like to have applied as extracurricular coursework. That means that you want to add courses and their associated units over and above the minimum number of units required for your degree. To do this, you should submit the appeal under the "dummy programme component" listed in your programme requirements under the heading "Extracurricular". Extracurricular courses only appear on the diploma supplement, not on the list of courses found on the diploma.

Note: If you have courses at institutions other than Leiden University that you would like to have applied as extracurricular courses, you should submit an appeal for External Coursework (see below).

Note: A bachelor-level course cannot be listed on your master's diploma supplement.

4. You should submit an appeal for Substitution to have other courses or a minor taken within Leiden University applied to your electives. See: elective courses

Note: If you want to substitute a required course with coursework at an institution other than Leiden University, you should submit a appeal for External Coursework (see below).

5. You should submit an appeal for External Coursework if you want to substitute a particular required course with coursework completed at an institution other than Leiden University. For example, you can do this to satisfy your electives of for extracurricular courses that you are taking or have already taken somewhere other than at Leiden University. You will need to provide supporting documentation for this.
As soon as you have submitted your appeal in uSis, an automatically generated message will be sent to your "u-mail" university e-mail address (so make sure that this address works!) in which you are asked to submit supporting documentation. Supporting documentation cannot be sent together with the appeal in uSis and should thus be sent separately – in hard copy (not by e-mail) to the administrative secretary of the Board of Examiners (see above).

The following documentation should be provided for an appeal for External Coursework:
- A description of the relevant courses from the course catalogue of the institution where you took them.

Note: The Board of Examiners will only consider print-outs from the original course catalogue descriptions, not text copied into a Word document. Course descriptions should be as detailed as possible. In all cases, the following should be clear: what the number of ECTS units is, what reading materials were used, the course content and when the course was taken.

Note: An appeal for External Coursework is usually first approved on a provisional basis on the basis of the documentation provided. A final decision on the request is only given after documentation is provided on the courses actually completed. This is relevant, for example, when students have indicated beforehand what courses they want to take but end up deciding to do something else.

Note: Supporting documentation sent to the Board of Examiners in connection with this type of appeal should be marked with the uSis appeal number.

Communication with regard to appeals

As soon as you have submitted an appeal in uSis, an automatically generated message is sent to your "u-mail" university e-mail address (so make sure that this address works!). You will receive messages in the following situations:

• When you have submitted an appeal ("confirmation of receipt"). Your appeal has then been assigned a reference number ("appeal number") and you will be informed as to whether you need to provide supporting documentation.
• When your department has not yet received the necessary supporting documentation.
• When your department has approved your appeal.
• When your department has rejected your appeal.
• When your department's teaching administrator has withdrawn your appeal. (A teaching administrator will only withdraw an appeal on the student's request. So, such a message will never come unexpectedly.)
• Possibly, in the case of an appeal for External Coursework: When your external coursework has been provisionally approved.
You can check the status of your appeal in uSis.

Once again:

Automatically generated e-mails in connection with appeals are sent to student's "u-mail" university e-mail address. Make sure that this address works and/or that messages to it are forwarded to another address.