Elective courses rules

These are rules concerned with how students can obtain credit points (ECs) for their Elective courses.

General rules
  • Permission for elective courses must always be requested before the start of the course, and is always granted on an individual basis. For this, fill in this form and send it to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) stating your name, student id, course name, course description, number of credits, course level, organizing institute, and a short personal motivation for the choice.
  • Elective courses may be followed at other faculties and universities.
  • Other universities may award “half credits”. Leiden University does not accept half credits, and will always round downward. E.g. 7.5 EC becomes 7 EC.
Course levels
  • Elective courses must be at master level. At Leiden University, this means level 400 and higher.
  • Maximally 5 elective credits can be obtained at advanced level (level 300 at Leiden University). Permission is on an individual basis and restrictions apply.
  • Of these 5 credits, maximally 3 can be obtained at introductory level (levels 100/200 at Leiden University). Permission is on an individual basis and restrictions apply.
How to apply in uSis for an elective
    The procedure of applying for an elective in uSis is as following. In the new uSis system you can submit a petition for an elective. The Media Technology will discuss them in their meetings and approve them in the uSis system.
    You have to take the following steps:
    1. You need to go to your student center
    2. In the menu, go to ‘Academic Requirements’ (under the blue tab ‘Academics’). Double click on the
    3. Scroll down to “Master Media Technology Free choice of course”
    4. Click on ‘Free Choice Media Technology’
    5. Click on the green button ‘Submit request’ (verzoekschrift indienen)
    6. Choose the kind of petition you would like to request (exemption, extracurriculair, external education, etc.)
    7. Follow the instructions on the following page: Add course to be replaced. Fill the requested information (short description (title of the course), long description, requested units (number of EC) and if necessary external institute with the name of the University and the master. Do not forget to fill in the level. You can use the space ‘Explanation student’ to fill in the level. Click on ‘Add (external, extracurricular, etc) education.

    Your petition is going to the study advisor of Media Technology (Annebeth Simonsz). She will discuss your petition in the Media Technology board meeting and approve or disapprove the submitted petition. The submitted petition must be complete. When the petition is approved, in uSis you get the status/message ‘In Progress’. When you have received your grade and you have sent prove of your grade to Annebeth she can finally approve the requested course and the status becomes ‘Approved’.

Project space
  • Maximally 5 elective credits can be obtained through project work instead of taking courses. Permission is granted on an individual basis and restrictions apply.
  • Of these 5 credits, maximally 2 can be obtained via “graduation project assistance” (see below). Permission is on an individual basis and restrictions apply.
Graduation project assistance

Within their project space, students can obtain a maximum of 2 EC for helping another student in his/her graduation project. It must be technical assistance, such as programming and hardware construction. The added work must be of assistive nature to the project and cannot be an essential part. Both students (assisting and assisted) need prior approval of the Media Technology board for the assistance, and must write a report about their cooperation. A student can be the assisting and assisted party only once.
Elective courses