Application and admission

Source: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/education/study-programmes/bachelor/political-science/international-relations-and-organisations/admission-and-application Parent: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/education/study-programmes/bachelor/political-science/international-relations-and-organisations/about-the-programme/programme-structure

International Relations and Organisations (BSc)

Application and admission

The Leiden University Political Science bachelor’s specialisation International Relations and Organisations enjoys a high popularity. To assure the quality of education, the number of students it admits is limited. This is known as a 'numerus fixus'. If there are more applications than this ‘numerus fixus’, a selection and placement procedure will determine which applicants will be offered a place in the programme. This means that we cannot guarantee all applicants enrollment, even if they meet all entry requirements. Furthermore, applicants must register their application by an earlier deadline (15 January) and meet several strict deadlines.

Roadmap to academic year 2026-2027

Numerus fixus

Numerus fixus: general

For specific programmes, universities in the Netherlands set a quota for the number of students who can be allocated a place. This quota is called numerus fixus. In practice, it means that you are not assured of a place if you apply for such a numerus fixus programme.

If there are more applications than available places, a ranking list of applications will be established through a selection procedure. This ranking determines which applicants will be offered one of the available places first. If a place is not accepted within the set term, it will be offered to the next applicant on the ranking list.

In other words: the higher your ranking, the greater your chance of being offered a place and the sooner you will be offered one of the available places. The placement procedure runs from 15 April to 31 August.

Numerus fixus: IRO

For Leiden University’s BSc Political Science: International Relations and Organisations the numerus fixus has been set at a total of 400 students.

(For the Leiden-based, Dutch-taught BSc Politicologie: Nationale en Internationale Politiek there is no numerus fixus.)

Numerus fixus: selection criteria

The selection procedure for IRO is based on these criteria:

the average grades of your previous education (30%),
your score in the online assessment (70%)

Ranking number

On the basis of these criteria in mid-April, all applicants in the selection and placement procedure receive a ranking number. The available places are initially offered to the participants with the ranking numbers between 1 and 400.

Each place that is not accepted within two weeks, is automatically offered to the next highest applicant. Also, when applicants withdraw from the selection and placement procedure, the free spot is directly offered to the next candidate on the ranking list. Places are offered (and have to be accepted) via Studielink until all available places have been accepted, which may continue until very shortly before the actual start of the programme.

In practice, this means that

ranking numbers higher than 400 may very well give access to the programme;
it is difficult to predict how many places will be freed up and reallocated from one applicant to another;
you will have to assess yourself whether and how long you would like to wait for a place offer, if you haven’t received one yet
you may have to apply for visa and residence permit before having been offered a place.

Please note: the early application deadline (15 January) and the provisions about selection and placement apply to the International Relations and Organisations specialisation.

The specialisation Nationale en Internationale Politiek has a later application deadline and no numerus fixus.