As of the next academic year, students at Leiden University, Delft University of Technology or Erasmus University Rotterdam will have access to the other institutions’ broadening minors. Minors are secondary specialisations that give students an opportunity to explore fields of study beyond the boundaries of their own degree programme or, conversely, deepen their insight in their own discipline.
Students can apply from 1 May to 31 May. In that period, the three universities will open up 30 percent of the available places in the broadening minors to students from the other two universities. Additionally, they will encourage and facilitate mutual participation in the minors. Previously, students had the opportunity to participate in a minor from another university, but in practice that was restricted.
Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam have been working together some time now in the areas of education, research and valorisation. By opening up the broadening minors, the three universities have taken a new step in the realisation of one of the objectives of their partnership: to broaden their joint offer of study programmes and to improve mutual access to these programmes. Indeed, this move also satisfies wishes expressed in this regard by students at the three institutions.
Joint LDE Minor: Responsible Innovation
Besides giving each other access to their minors, the partner universities have also worked together on the development of a first joint minor: Responsible Innovation. This minor was successfully introduced in the 2014-15 academic year. In the near future, the LDE Association hopes to offer more of these multi-disciplinary minors. These joint programmes allow students to take optimum advantage of the full breadth of complementary expertise offered by the three institutions.
About minors
Most of the bachelor programmes organised by Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam have a major-minor structure, with 15 to 30 ECTS credits being reserved for the minor. This allocation gives students an opportunity to look beyond the confines of their main degree programme, or, conversely, study certain aspects of their own discipline in greater depth.
A well-chosen minor allows students to develop skills that even if they remain underexposed within their own degree programme, are relevant nevertheless. In addition, it helps students to ‘get in lane’ for a master that they intend to follow after completing their bachelor – increasing their chances of success. And finally, minors allow students to broaden their knowledge of and insight in fields of expertise adjacent to their own, which they can benefit from within their own discipline.
For further information about the different minors, please visit the websites of Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam:
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