Programme
When deciding what to study you undoubtedly read a lot of information about your study programme. Leiden University employs various systems to provide information about programmes and courses and to facilitate communication between lecturers and students.
The Prospectus contains information about all the courses within your study programme. Here you can find all you need to know about your programme. Via the online learning environment Brightspace you can communicate with your lecturers and submit assignments.
Programme Structure
The Bachelor's programme in Psychology comprises 180 EC.
- You follow 120 EC of compulsory subjects: 60 EC in the first year, 45 EC in the second year and 15 EC in the third year.
- You can choose the remaining 60 EC of courses yourself. We call this this elective space
After the first year of the programme some courses have entry requirements, as they require the knowledge gained in previous course(s) to successfully complete them. For your personal study plan and your study progress, it is therefore important that you know how the programme is structured and the possible entry requirements. The curriculum planner 2024-25 provides a good overview of the structure and the entry requirements. This can also be found in the prospectus.
Year 1
In the first year, you will follow twelve compulsory courses (5 EC per course, 60 EC in total). Together, these provide an overview of the broad field of psychology. You will follow three courses in statistics and methodology. You will also improve important skills, such as scientific writing and presentation. At the end of the first year, you must meet the Binding Study Advice (BSA) requirement to continue with the programme.
For students with good academic results, there is an Honours Programme. You can start this extra-curricular programme in Semester 2 of the first year of study or at the start of the second year of study.
Learn more about the Honours ProgrammeYear 2
In the first semester of the second year, you will follow compulsory courses at a higher level (5 EC per course, 32.5 EC in total). In the second semester you have 12.5 EC of compulsory Year 2 courses and can choose the remainder of courses, which we call the elective space. On the Elective space page, you can read in which ways you can fill this in.
Year 3
In the third year you will further complete the elective space and conclude the bachelor programme in a course in which you do a research project with a group of students and write your individual thesis, the Bachelor Project (15 EC).