Leiden University
speciality: Archaeology

One of the most fond memories of Leiden University I have is the part of the campus I attended (Humanities, Archaeology). The university buildings for humanities are all located in and near the old and cosy city center making it a very fun location to study and attend classes in.
The courses, professors and materials are of course all of modern quality but especially for Archaeology being able to attend the classes in matching historical buildings makes for an, in my opinion, fantastic experience.

This faculty in particular only serves the interest of the upper middle class and the rich.

It screams DEI and inclusivity, but the message remains hollow, especially since most of these groups include individuals, who have said xenophobic and other discriminatory things about other students and staff in the past. DEI should celebrate all different diversities and not just a single issue one.

There is an extrem lack of equal opportunities its always just opportunities for the same old people. How can the same person hold 3-4 positions in the faculty, and yet call the faculty a heaven of “equal opportunities”?
To no surprise its just the already wealthy who get every opportunity.
They eve created a grassroots funding system where the same old rich students, received yet another opportunity….
Its so cool that you give already rich students more money, instead of addressing structural issues within the faculty.

And the worst thing is you leave traces of evidence everywhere, you even suck at false advertising.

Theres a lot of hypocrisy in leiden and many students of vulnerable backgrounds are being ignored, slandered and even held back career wise. Yet the perpetrators can still remain in the drivers seat. The perpetrators are both students and staff.

The administration/study advisors is terrible and quite frankly useless since everything has just become automated emails, there are no mentors and supervisors only like to serve students who are wealthy. A student could die and they would not care if they are still alive.

The building is pretty but it had some leaks in the past.

Overall after 2 suicide attempts thanks to their constant harassment and slander. I would give this faculty less than one star.

Leiden archaeology is only for the rich conservatives who had failed so hard in their own economic system, that they had to enter a public university (with no entry barriers) because they couldn’t compete with people that applied to go to Oxford or Cambridge . It truly is a neoliberal university.

Leiden university is a very globally minded university with great connections. The level of education is high but the level of planning and communication could be better. This includes strange choices of exam places or last minute changes to the rosters.
The professors are very knowledgeable and the school is very inclusive. During my studies I had a great time with a reasonable amount of annoyances.
There are a lot of different faculties with their own facilities. Our faculty building was very modern. The building served its purpose well and its facilities were very nice. This gave us the option to conduct a lot of research.
The university does work online although it sometimes has some trouble due to the large amount of people it has and not everyone being able to adept.
The university is always working on its inclusivity, helpfulness and has many places for students in need of help to go to.
I felt really at home on my faculty and feel like I was taught sufficient amount of knowledge to start my career.

At the beginning of my studies, I had a completely different perspective of what entailed being an archaeologist, and although the reality is much different, I love it. This Bachelor’s program is oriented to give you the basis for further specializations. It is very international oriented, and the faculty has a broad network. They englobe many aspects of the field such as Digital Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Material Studies, Heritage, Field Work (excavations), and World Archaeology. It depends on you what type of path you want to follow, either a more theoretical one or perhaps something related to Natural Sciences, like Bioarchaeology. This is not history, so although you are going to learn about it, the main focus is on artifacts or what we archaeologists call material culture. So have this in mind before applying. Your goal is to interpret data from these archaeological remains, either in the lab by analyzing bones, botanical remains, pottery, or flint by instance, or by gathering historical accounts or geographical information.

The faculty is not in the center of Leiden as most faculties are; the Van Steenis building is located in the Bioscience Park in Leiden, thus a bit farther away. Professors are very knowledgeable in their field of studies, and the best part is that there is not much formality regarding their approaches; this means you will study in a relaxed atmosphere. This, however, doesn’t mean that they are not strict regarding your performance and the quality of your assignments.

I would recommend studying for the bachelor’s but following a master’s in the near future, as the bachelor’s program provides only fundamental training. Moreover, if you would like to stay in the Netherlands, start learning Dutch!
Here, most if not all jobs related to Archaeology and Heritage are only offered for those who speak Dutch fluently. There are plenty of jobs, but mostly they are not announced on websites so the way to get those jobs is to network with professors and other academics/professionals. This means that you should work on your networking skills.

The university has an excellent faculty. Students gets proper attention individually. Research work is extensive and of good quality. The course work is relevant to present scenarios and updated. Constant exposure to real world situations.