The Honours Academy offers extra opportunities for students and teachers at Leiden University.

Are you a curious and enthusiastic student, and do you want to do more besides your regular studies? If so, Honours education might be something for you!

Are you a curious and enthusiastic student, and do you want to do more besides your regular studies? If so, Honours education might be something for you!

Are you a curious and enthusiastic student, and do you want to do more besides your regular studies? If so, Honours education might be something for you!

At the Honours Academy, students (vwo, bachelor, master) engage in extra education.

Stay informed on all honours programmes at Leiden University through our quarterly newsletter. The Honours Academy Newsletter is available in both English and Dutch.

The Honours Academy of Leiden University organises outside-the-box education in which students and teachers from all faculties further develop themselves. In doing so, we help them, the university, and society move forward.

Door de geopolitieke spanningen wereldwijd waaronder de oorlog in Oekraïne, wil Defensie overal in het land fors uitbreiden. Dit zal o.a. gevolgen hebben voor de opvanglokaties waar asielzoekers verblijven, maar ook voor burgers waarvan de woningen voor de plannen moet wijken.

Het rapport van de Commissie Sorgdrager naar aanleiding van de Hawija-zaak, wijst uit dat Defensie niet transparant is over eigen fouten. Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, bevestigt in Nieuwsuur dat ‘Defensie een patroon laat zien van verkeerd en onjuist informeren van de Tweede Kamer.’

De discussie over de sluiting van illegale schietbanen van Defensie, als gevolg van de stikstofwetgeving is ingewikkeld en omvat diverse juridische aspecten. Armin Cuyvers, hoogleraar Europeesrecht, bespreekt de zaak in BNR-Nieuwsradio.

Met de voorgestelde Wet wil Defensie sneller kunnen inspelen op internationale dreigingen, door uitbreiding van kazernes en militaire oefenterreinen te realiseren. Universitair docent, Rogier Kegge, spreekt in EenVandaag over deze gereedstelling van Defensie en de rechtsbescherming voor omwonenden.

During the honours programme’s start of the year event of September the 15th, Pierre van Eijl and Albert Pilot were invited to talk about their research on talent development in honours programmes and the honours laboratory for 21st century skills. The honours programme with a new name is ‘Tackling…

Nine Honours Class students pitched their plans on 3 March to make the city of Leiden safer, more transparent and more democratic. In this version of 'Dragons Den' headed by Professor Job Cohen the students were tested on their plans and their mettle.

From a Tuscany escape room to scientific illustrations of flowers, and from Chinese movie subtitles to innovative education methods for children, every subject imaginable was covered at the first ever Honours College Conference. ‘You get the chance to break away from the standard study path.’

Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) is the international Honours College of Leiden University and offers an innovative Liberal Arts & Sciences undergraduate programme to highly talented and motivated students from all over the world.

The annual New Year Lecture for Honours College Law took place on Friday 17 January. This year’s speaker was Barbara Zwirs, author and former assistant professor in criminology at Leiden Law School. Her lecture got 2025 off to an inspiring start.

Terwijl NAVO-landen hun defensiebudgetten fors verhogen, ontstaat ruimte voor start-ups om innovatieve technologie te leveren. De flexibiliteit en snelheid maken hen aantrekkelijk voor defensie, maar de opmars brengt ook risico’s met zich mee, waarschuwt Louisa Handel-Mazzetti, promovenda bij Lucht…

Students from the ‘Public confidence in the criminal justice system’ Bachelor’s Honours Class completed this course with their presentations at the final session on Tuesday 25 May. What is unique about this honours class is the collaboration with The Hague University of Applied Sciences and the Court…

Just published:

How to innovate education? In this series, the Honours Academy highlights examples from their educational testing ground that aim to inspire. Today: the liberating effect of pass/fail and ‘unessays’ at Honours College Law.

Pushing the limits and trying things out. The academic year of the Honours Academy started on 10 October and all the speakers encouraged students to jump in at the deep end.

The subjects of the texts vary from Demosthenes to the delivery of camels in early Islamic Egypt, and their provenances stretch from the Eastern to the Western Desert, and from the Egyptian Nile valley to Qasr Ibrim in northern Nubia.

This liber amicorum is a tribute to Prof. dr. ir. Hans H. de Iongh, associate professsor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University and guest professor at the University of Antwerp, on the occasion of his retirement on 27 October 2016.

This book celebrates Maarten Mous, professor of African Linguistics at Leiden University.

The transformation of the myriad of medieval kingdoms, principalities, local lordships, city-‘states’ and peasant ‘republics’ into ‘modern’ states, claiming some measure of sovereignty, remains one of the core themes of European history, because it gets down to the very root of the (idea on the) Europe…

Who had a say in making decisions about the natural world, when, how and to what end? How were rights to natural resources established? How did communities handle environmental crises? And how did dealing with the environment have an impact on the power relations in communities?

This collection of papers was compiled in celebration of the remarkable academic career of Professor Wil Roebroeks, who has established himself as one of Europe’s leading figures in Palaeolithic archaeology over the past three decades and founded the Human origins research group at Leiden University…

The third Honours Academy Star was awarded to Jan Sleutels during the opening ceremony of the academic year of the Honours Academy on Tuesday 6 October. Sleutels is a lecturer in the Honours College Humanities Lab of the Faculty of Humanities and coordinator of the Pre-University College.

Dr. Bart Custers, associate professor and director of research at eLaw, the center for law and digital technologies, has been appointed as member of the Honours Council of the Honours Academy.

The Honours Academy has recently started working with the new visual technology Virtual Reality (VR). 'It is important to look beyond your own borders and to keep on experimenting. It may not work out, but at least you tried.'

Claire Weeda, Robert Stein, and Louis Sicking have published a collection of essays in honour of Em. Prof. dr. Peter Hoppenbrouwers - also the former Scientific Director of the Research School of Medieval Studies. The contributions can be consulted freely online.

Social impact and circular economy. Two topics focusing on the future and bringing forward many concrete problems. Two Master Honours Classes, in which students tackle societal challenges, will start this fall.

In March, the Honours Academy will be launching two new Master Honours Classes. In these classes, students with a curious mind will have the opportunity to do research into the relationship between humans and nature or to work on an innovation for the healthcare sector. ‘This will allow students from…

The Honours College Law (HC Law) is soon going to look very different. What does the HC Law currently do, and what’s going to change? Why should you apply for it? To answer these questions, we spoke to Maartje van der Woude, Designated Professor at the HC Law. She’s designing the new programme in collaboration…

The four thousand war victims buried at the Netherlands Field of Honour at Loenen include a number of Leiden students who were in the Resistance. The War Graves Foundation is looking for volunteers to take part in a special event to honour the deceased.

Gert Oostindie, Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History, has been made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. He was awarded the royal honour by Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink after giving his valedictory lecture, ‘The future of the colonial past’, in the Academy Building of Leiden University…

Have you ever wondered what law has accomplished in different countries and jurisdictions? If it even has accomplished anything at all, or that it are all promises of a better world? And have you ever thought about the role of law in the war on terror, in climate change, in emancipation and protection…

Emeritus professor Victor Halberstadt has been honoured with the Cross of Honour of the Order of the House of Orange.

Royal honour for Prof. Barend Mons. He was made a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. He received this award from the mayor of the municipality of Waddinxveen, Evert Jan Nieuwenhuis.

John Kroes received a royal honour from Leiden deputy mayor Julius Terpstra on 20 November. He was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his exceptional services to the university and his extensive voluntary work for organisations in Leiden and The Hague.

Mixtec researcher and cultural activist Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez (Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University) has been awarded a Medal of Merit during the World Conference of Indigenous Woman in Lima, Peru.

Korrie Korevaart, a former director and lecturer in Dutch language and culture at Leiden University, has been made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Korevaart, who has retired but is still a guest member of staff at the university, has received the honour for her work at the Faculty of Humanities…

As of 19 April 2022, professor Jacobijn Gussekloo has been appointed Dean of the Honours Academy at Leiden University. Gussekloo is professor of Primary Care and director of the master’s programme Vitality and Ageing. Gussekloo succeeds professor Jos Schaeken, who has been Dean since March 2020.

On Monday 25 September, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni passed away, at the age of 79. Throughout his distinguished career, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni has made a unique contribution to international criminal justice.

‘When I look back on the honours programme, all I can do is smile. It has transformed me into a student who thinks in terms of opportunities and solutions,’ said Roos ter Elst, student of Education and Child Studies, at the ceremony for the award of Honours certificates to bachelor’s students, on 6…

On 1 March 2020, Jos Schaeken will become the new Dean of the Honours Academy. He is taking over from Ton van Haaften, who is retiring after four years in the post. Here, both Deans give their views on their ambitions, continuity, and the role the students play.

The study association of honours education SLHC established an international commission concerned with the closer involvement of international students in the Honours Community. The language of communication will become English where possible, and more upcoming activities will be organised in The Hague…

Professor of Sociology of Law Maartje van der Woude has been appointed as the new Director of the Honours College Law (HC Law). She will succeed Sjoerd Douma on 1 January 2017. HC Law is one of the faculty expertise programmes of the Honours College that is open to students studying one of the law programmes…

The masterstudents who participated in the International Leiden Leadership Programme (ILLP), received their honours certificate at the festive closing seminar on 11 June in the Old Observatory (Sterrewacht). Congratulations to our international students!

To achieve societal impact, you need to do more than solely writing academic articles. That's the idea behind the Master Honours Class 'Leiden Revisited', in which students demonstrated with art how residents at the outskirts of Leiden experience the city. 'It's the perfect way to start the debate.'