Hi everyone,

I have been admitted to Maastricht University's LLM program for Globalisation and Law - Human Rights and waiting for the response from Leiden University (Public International Law - Peace, Justice and Development), which is the other university I have applied too. Even though I have not been admitted into to the program in Leiden University as yet, I would still like to have a clear view of both the Universities to better decide, if need be.

It will be really helpful if I could know which university is the better fit. How welcoming are the professors, study styles/structures, the cities, interaction/activities for international students? I am not worried about the ranking of the universities as I already have around 4 years of practical knowledge working in the Supreme Court of my country and also on-field experience with various organisations, or should take the same into consideration too?

Any and all input in regard to the subject topic will be great.

Thanking all of you in advance.

Cheers

Hi Ishan, I spent my year abroad at Leiden University. Not an expert in either program, but from what I know, Leiden is the bigger name, both domestically and internationally.
In relation to the cities, I can only speak about Leiden. It's a very pretty small Dutch student town (around 120,000 people). I loved it, my year there was one of the best in my life.

The facilities of the law school are great and I've recommended the university to many of my friends. In terms of location, Leiden is very close to the Hague (10 mins by train) and Amsterdam (30 mins), whereas Maastricht is pretty much on the border with Belgium. So in terms of connections and networking, you may have more opportunities in Leiden.

All in all, I would recommend Leiden.

Good luck :)

Hey JN,
Thank you for sharing your experience. Could you please let me know, how interactive was the course you did and what was the course? I would like some open discussions as part of my program in regard to the subject I will be studying. Lastly, could you please help me better understand Leiden's teaching methodology of privatissimum and practicum.

Thanks

Hello Ishan, It was a year-long exchange at the law school. I'm a law student in the UK and I spent my year abroad at Leiden.
So it was at an undergraduate level, whereas you will be taking graduate level courses. As such, I am not sure if my experience with the courses will be of much help. Nevertheless, I will provide it anyway.
In general, there was plenty of opportunities to participate in class discussions, although some classes were too big for the discussion to be too open. It really varied from course to course, and from academic to academic.

I know nothing about Privatissimum and practicum.

Hello Ishan, It was a year-long exchange at the law school. I'm a law student in the UK and I spent my year abroad at Leiden.
So it was at an undergraduate level, whereas you will be taking graduate level courses. As such, I am not sure if my experience with the courses will be of much help. Nevertheless, I will provide it anyway.
In general, there was plenty of opportunities to participate in class discussions, although some classes were too big for the discussion to be too open. It really varied from course to course, and from academic to academic.

I know nothing about Privatissimum and practicum.