The Leiden University Excellence Scholarship, known as LExS, supports excellent students joining a full-time Leiden University master's degree programme, with the exception of the standard (non-advanced) LLM and MSc programmes at Leiden Law School, which run their own scholarship schemes. Applicants must hold a passport from outside the EEA and EFTA, not be eligible for Dutch government student finance, and show excellent results in their previous education relevant to the programme applied for, typically placing them among the top 10 percent of their graduating class; competition is intense, with roughly 25 scholarships awarded each year against more than 1,000 applications. LExS is a partial scholarship: it grants a fixed tuition fee waiver at one of five levels, EUR 10,000, 15,000, 17,500, 18,500 or 19,000 a year, with the specific amount non-negotiable and set for the whole duration of the programme rather than adjusted year to year. It does not cover living costs, and recipients must still show they meet the separate financial requirements for a Dutch residence permit. The deadline for students applying to programmes starting in September is 1 December of the preceding year; a small number of programmes with a February intake instead have an application deadline of 1 October. Award decisions are typically communicated by the end of March for the following September intake.
Host universities
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€14,300 to €30,200
IELTS 6