The Humanities in a Digital World core curriculum course strengthens the content of the study programmes in terms of digital topics, methods and techniques. The course will explore three substantive themes, namely Media, Data (Structures) and AI, and will consist of eleven lectures. The first, introductory lecture will be given by the coordinator, Dr. Angus Mol. This will be followed by the three themes, each comprising three lectures. There will naturally also be discussion of the legal and ethical aspects of AI. The course will conclude with a panel discussion with experts from different disciplines, highlighting the faculty’s broad expertise in relation to digitisation. Each study programme will also offer a differentiation, in which students work on topics drawn from their own discipline.

The new course starts next academic year

Humanities in a Digital World is a 5 EC course at level 100, which will be offered from the 2026-2027 academic year to all bachelor’s students in our faculty. The course will be scheduled in the first and second semesters in Leiden and in the second semester in The Hague. It will mostly be scheduled in the first year of the bachelor’s programme, but in a few programmes it will be scheduled in the second year, because that fits in better with the teaching plan.

Our education with core courses is constantly updated

It should be noted that Humanities in a Digital World is not the only course in the faculty’s core curriculum: another is Philosophy of Science, with 5 EC at level 200. In the past, a few former core curriculum courses, such as Introduction to Linguistics and Introduction to Literary Theory, were converted to courses for shared teaching. Another core curriculum course that will be discontinued is Area Studies: the content of that course will be integrated within courses offered by the separate Area Studies programmes. This shows that the education offering of the Faculty of Humanities is not immutable and is always open to change.

Careful evaluation

The Humanities in a Digital World course is seen as a shared foundation for students, and it will continue to develop in the future. The lecturers who deliver the course will be given enough time for that development and for keeping it up-to-date. In the first year, the only language of instruction for the course will be English. After the first academic year, there will also be explicit evaluation of the language of instruction. The faculty’s Education Committee – consisting of staff members and students from all the institutes – has been closely involved in designing the course and will also evaluate it carefully after its introduction. This will ensure that the content remains relevant, comprehensive and high-quality.

Would you like more information?

The introduction of a new course often raises many questions. You can find more information in the FAQs. If your question isn’t answered there, please send an email to hdw@hum.leidenuniv.nl.