The Korean Studies programme offered at Leiden University is a relatively small programme, allowing for intimate contact between students and professors. A lot of the classes happen in small groups, which improve the participation of students and as well as the attention given to each student. This helped me a lot in the development of certain skills and motivated me to work harder, as personalized feedback was given almost weekly. There was frequent and easily accessible contact with professors.

Within the programme, language learning was an important aspect, taking up almost half of the lecture hours. The intimate environment provided by the university allowed for fast and intensive language learning in a manner that was both playful and serious. In the second year, the students are obligated to attend a language school in South Korea for six months, to improve their knowledge of the Korean language as well as gain firsthand experience with Korean culture.

Since the Korean Studies programme is quite a specific program, the job opportunities linked to this study are pretty diverse. Many students continue by following a more general or diverse Masters’s programme that will increase their chances to find a job. However, for people who do want to continue in the East Asian field, this Bachelor’s programme offers a solid basis, backed by good Korean language knowledge.

Leiden University emphasizes the importance of academic research and writing. As such, students are required to write at least two research papers for each course. While intensive, this does allow for fast improvement of writing and research skills, as well as overall improvement of independent work.

What I experienced to be a downside of the programme is the lack of a course that talks about different research methods. This is often offered at other universities and considering the fact that students are required to do their own academic research for their bachelor thesis, a basic course on different research methods feels like a necessity.

More generally, Leiden University has a problem with their administration. Communication to students coming from the institution, not the programme, is often slow and unclear. It takes the university quite long to answer emails and communication between different departments is flawed. This means that the student often has to do a lot of reaching out to different people to have certain problems solved or questions answered. From my years at Leiden University I know that part of this is due to the lack of funding by the Dutch government, however I do not agree that students should be the victim of this.

Student life in Leiden is quite fun. It’s a smaller city but due to the renowned international reputation of the university there are a lot of student organizations and associations that organize a variety of events for students to join. Before the start of the academic year the university also organizes an introduction week, during which students get the opportunity to meet fellow students from different programmes. The only downside to living in Leiden is that there is a housing crisis, and as a consequence student housing in the centre of the city is expensive and hard to find.

Overall I would recommend studying at Leiden university thanks to its personalized teaching methods and accessible close contact with professors. The Korean Studies programme is a uniquely specific programme that teaches students how to gain insight into political, cultural and societal matters related to Korea but also broader East Asia. During the third and last year of the bachelor, students can choose a minor degree which they can fill in freely, according to their personal interest. The programme covers many different fields and helps students to build a solid skill package that is useful in a variety of different fields.