Graduation

Defining a masterplan for graduation

You can update and adjust your masterplan as often as you like during your studies. Before graduation, you have to hand in your final, definitive masterplan with all the components you followed. The Board of Examiners will check your masterplan against the rules in the OER appendix. This page details how to prepare your masterplan for graduation.

Apply for graduation

After completion of the MSc programme students will receive their diploma. However, graduation requires some planning, starting at least two months before the desired graduation date! It is the student's own responsibility to keep track of all their grades (courses and research projects) and make sure everything is registered correctly in uSis and MyStudyMap. 

Graduation ceremony

MSc programme degrees are handed out at the graduation ceremony. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled on the first Tuesday of almost every month. The ceremony lasts about 30 minutes per student and is held in the Faculty room at the Academiegebouw. The student can invite their family and friends. The ceremony comprises a 5-10 minute presentation by the student about (one of their) their research project(s) and a short questioning by the graduation committee, after which the student will receive the official documents and signs the graduation book of the faculty. You can choose which project to present (major, minor, business, communication, education etc.) After the ceremony, the student can sign their name in the 'zweetkamertje', as is the tradition for students finishing their studies at Leiden University. 

Graduation calendar

You should start your graduation request at least 6 weeks before your certification date. So a proposed certification date of X means starting your graduation procedure before X - 6 weeks and handing in your final grades no later than X. In the table below you can find the corresponding first possible ceremony option for this date.

Final grade in by: Certification date: Start procedure no later than: First possible ceremony date:
29 Mar 2024 29 Mar 2024 16 Feb 2024 7 May 2024
30 Apr 2024 30 Apr 2024 19 Mar 2024 4 Jun 2024
31 Jul 2024 31 Jul 2024 15 May 2024 3 Sep 2024
31 Aug 2024 31 Aug 2024 19 Jul 2024 1 Oct 2024
30 Sep 2024 30 Sep 2024 19 Aug 2024 5 Nov 2024
31 Oct 2024 31 Oct 2024 19 Sep 2024 3 Dec 2024
29 Nov 2024 29 Nov 2024 18 Oct 2024 4 Feb 2025
20 Dec 2024 20 Dec 2024 8 Nov 2024 4 Feb 2025
31 Jan 2025 31 Jan 2025 20 Dec 2024 4 Mar 2025
28 Feb 2025 28 Feb 2025 15 Jan 2025 1 Apr 2025