Leiden University

{{Short description|Public university in the Netherlands}}{{Infobox university

| name = Leiden University

| native_name = {{lang|nl|Universiteit Leiden}}

| image = Leiden University seal.svg

| image_size = 175px

| motto = {{native phrase|la|Libertatis Praesidium}}

| motto_lang = la

| mottoeng = Bastion of Freedom

| established = {{start date and age|1575|2|8|df=yes}}{{Cite web |url=http://historiek.net/de-tachtigjarige-oorlog-en-het-ontstaan-van-universiteiten-in-de-noordelijke-nederlanden/69044/ |title=De Tachtigjarige Oorlog en het ontstaan van universiteiten in de Noordelijke Nederlanden |language=nl |website=Historiek |date=16 May 2017 |access-date=19 May 2017}}

| founder = William of Orange

| type = Public research university

| campus = Urban and College town

| language = Dutch, English
(Additional languages for language programmes)

| academic_affiliation = TPC

| budget = €777 million (2021)

| president = Annetje Ottow

| rector = Hester Bijl

| faculty = 1,862 (2021){{Cite web|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/about-us/facts-and-figures|title=Facts and figures |publisher=Leiden University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330203044/https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/about-us/facts-and-figures|archive-date=

2023-03-30|access-date=2023-12-28}}

| administrative_staff = 1,573

| students = 37,136 (2021–22){{Cite web|url=https://allecijfers.nl/wo/universiteit-leiden/|title=Universiteit Leiden in cijfers en grafieken |publisher=AlleCijfers.nl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329165908/http://allecijfers.nl/wo/universiteit-leiden/|archive-date=

2023-03-29|access-date=2023-12-28}}

| undergrad = 24,496 (2021–22)

| postgrad = 12,395 (2021–22)

| doctoral = 886 (2021)

| city = Leiden and The Hague

| province = South Holland

| country = Netherlands

| latin_name = Academia Lugduno-Batava{{Cite book |title=Record of the Jubilee Celebrations of the University of Sydney |date=1903 |publisher=William Brooks and Co. |isbn=9781112213304 |publication-place=Sydney, New South Wales |language=en-AU }}{{Cite book |title=Records of The Tercentenary Festival of Dublin University |date=1894 |publisher=Hodges, Figgis & Co. |isbn=9781355361602 |publication-place=Dublin, Ireland |language=en-IE }}{{Cite book |title=Actes du Jubilé de 1909 |date=1910 |publisher=Georg Keck & Cie |isbn=9781360078335 |publication-place=Geneva, Switzerland |language=fr-CH }}

| former_names = Rijksuniversiteit Leiden

| website = [https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en universiteitleiden.nl]

| colours = {{color box|#001158}} LEI Blue{{Cite web|url= https://huisstijl.leidenuniv.nl/en/basic-elements/colours/ |title=Leiden University basic elements: Colours|publisher=Leiden University|access-date=2021-01-07}}

| logo = UniversiteitLeidenLogo.svg

| pushpin_map = Netherlands#Europe

| coordinates = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}

}}

Leiden University (abbreviated as LEI;[https://www.medewerkers.universiteitleiden.nl/communicatie-en-marketing/richtlijnen-en-ondersteuning/schrijven-en-vertalen/schrijfwijzer/rechtsgeleerdheid#Afkortingen Schrijfrichtlijnen: Afkortingen] – website of Leiden University[https://www.rathenau.nl/sites/default/files/Acronyms%20related%20to%20the%20Dutch%20universities.pdf Acronyms related to the Dutch universities] – website of Rathenau Institute {{langx|nl|Universiteit Leiden}}) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution,{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Efwrjmp9iwC&dq=leiden+university+protestant&pg=PA84 | isbn=9789051833638 | title=The Great Emporium: The Low Countries as a Cultural Crossroads in the Renaissance and the Eighteenth Century | year=1992 | publisher=Rodopi }} it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Netherlands of today.{{Efn|During the period of the Habsburg Netherlands, which included the present-day Netherlands, the University of Leuven (1425-1797) was the oldest university. After the separation of the northern Netherlands, the University of Leiden (founded in 1575) became the first and oldest university in the Dutch Republic and later in its successor, the Kingdom of the Netherlands.}}

During the Dutch Golden Age scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic for its climate of intellectual tolerance. Individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Benedictus Spinoza, and later Baron d'Holbach were active in Leiden and environs.

The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments, housing more than forty national and international research institutes. Its historical primary campus consists of several buildings spread over Leiden, while a second campus located in The Hague houses a liberal arts college (Leiden University College The Hague) and several of its faculties. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Europaeum, and a founding member of the League of European Research Universities.

The university has produced twenty-six Spinoza Prize Laureates and sixteen Nobel Laureates. Members of the Dutch royal family such as Queen Juliana, Queen Beatrix, and King Willem-Alexander are alumni, and ten prime ministers of the Netherlands including Mark Rutte. US President John Quincy Adams also studied at the university.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-07 |title=John Quincy Adams {{!}} Biography, Facts, & Presidency |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Quincy-Adams |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Britannica |language=en}}

History

=Foundation and early history=

File:William_the_Silent_16th_century.jpg, founder of the university, in the 16th century.]]

File:Academia Leidensis (cropped).jpg

File:Anatomical theatre Leiden.jpg]]

In 1575, the emerging Dutch Republic did not have universities in its northern heartland. The only other university in the Habsburg Netherlands was the University of Leuven located in an area under firm Spanish control. Prince William founded Leiden University to give the Northern Netherlands an institution that could educate its citizens in religion and provide the government with educated men in all fields.{{cite book| last = Otterspeer| first = Willem| title = Groepsportret met Dame: de Leidse universiteit, 1575–1672| year = 2000| isbn = 978-90-351-2240-6 |publisher=Bert Bakker }}{{Cite book |last=Aldersey-Williams |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7n7VDwAAQBAJ |title=Dutch Light: Christiaan Huygens and the Making of Science in Europe |date=2020-09-03 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-1-5098-9332-4 |language=en}} It is said the choice fell on Leiden as a reward for the heroic defence of Leiden against Spanish attacks in 1574. The name of Philip II of Spain, William's adversary, appears on the official foundation certificate as he was still the de jure count of Holland.{{Cite web |title=Foundation documents |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/dossiers/history-of-leiden-university/foundation-documents |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Leiden University |language=en}} Philip II forbade all his subjects to study in Leiden.

The new institution was initially located in the Convent of Saint Barbara, then moved to the Faliede Bagijn Church in 1577 (now the location of the university museum) and in 1581 to a former convent of Cistercian nuns, a site which it still occupies, though the original building was destroyed by a fire in 1616.

Leiden University's reputation was created in part by the presence of scholars such as Justus Lipsius, Joseph Scaliger, Franciscus Gomarus, Hugo Grotius, Jacobus Arminius, Daniel Heinsius, and Gerhard Johann Vossius within fifty years of its founding. By the 1640s, over five hundred students were enrolled from all across Europe, making it the largest Protestant university.{{cite book |first=H. |last=Schnappen |title=Niederländische Universitäten und deutsches Geistesleben von der Gründung der Universität Leiden bis ins späte 18. Jahrhundert |location=Münster |year=1960 |series=Neue Münstersche Beiträge zur Geschichtsforschung |volume=6 |oclc=3783378 }} Baruch Spinoza discovered Descartes's work partly at Leiden University,{{Citation |last=Kambouchner |first=Denis |title=Spinoza and Descartes |date=2021-04-15 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119538349.ch6 |work=A Companion to Spinoza |pages=56–67 |editor-last=Melamed |editor-first=Yitzhak Y. |access-date=2023-07-07 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781119538349.ch6 |isbn=978-1-119-53834-9|s2cid=241336237 |url-access=subscription }} which he visited for periods of study multiple times.{{Cite web |title=Spinoza, Benedict De {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/spinoza/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |language=en-US}} In the 18th century, Jacobus Gronovius, Herman Boerhaave, Tiberius Hemsterhuis, and David Ruhnken were among the renowned academics of the university.

In 1896, the Zeeman effect was discovered at the institution by Pieter Zeeman and shortly afterward explained by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz.A.J. Kox, [https://akox.nl/wp-content/uploads/EPJPaper.pdf The discovery of the electron: II. The Zeeman effect], Eur. J. Phys. 18, 139–144 (1997). In the world's first university low-temperature laboratory, Professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes achieved a temperature only one degree above absolute zero. In 1908, he was also the first to succeed in liquifying helium and has played a role in the discovery of superconductivity in metals.{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1913 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1913/onnes/facts/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}

=Modern day=

File:Leiden 1610.jpg

The University Library has more than 5.2 million books and fifty thousand journals. It also has collections of Western and Oriental manuscripts, printed books, archives, prints, drawings, photographs, maps, and atlases. It houses the world's largest collections on Indonesia and the Caribbean, collected by the Scaliger Institute which studies various aspects of knowledge transmissions and ideas through texts and images from antiquity to the present day. In 2005, the manuscript of Einstein on the quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas (the Einstein-Bose condensation) was discovered in one of Leiden's libraries.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4170212.stm BBC NEWS | Europe | Student unearths Einstein paper].

== Partnerships ==

In 2012 Leiden entered into a strategic alliance with Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam for the universities to increase the quality of their research and teaching. The university is also the unofficial home of the Bilderberg Group, a meeting of high-level political and economic figures from North America and Europe. Leiden University partnered with Duke University School of Law starting in 2017 to run a joint summer program on global and transnational law from its Hague campus.

Location and buildings

File:Leiden - Rapenburg - universiteit.JPG

The university has no central campus; its buildings are spread over the city. Some buildings, like the Gravensteen, are very old, while Van Steenis, Lipsius and Gorlaeus are much more modern.[http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/vier-eeuwen-geschiedenis-in-steen.pdf Vier eeuwen geschiedenis in steen. Universitaire gebouwen in Leiden. Leiden, 2005] {{ISBN|90-9018052-4}}

Among the institutions affiliated with the university are The KITLV or Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (founded in 1851), the Leiden Observatory 1633; the Natural History Museum, with a very complete anatomical cabinet; the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities), with especially valuable Egyptian and Indian departments; a museum of Dutch antiquities from the earliest times; and three ethnographical museums, of which the nucleus was Philipp Franz von Siebold's Japanese collections. The anatomical and pathological laboratories of the university are modern, and the museums of geology and mineralogy have been restored.{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}}

The Hortus Botanicus (botanical garden) is the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands and one of the oldest in the world. Plants from all over the world have been carefully cultivated here by experts for more than four centuries. The Clusius garden (a reconstruction), the 18th-century Orangery with its monumental tub plants, the rare collection of historical trees hundreds of years old, the Japanese Siebold Memorial Museum symbolising the historical link between East and West, the tropical greenhouses with their world-class plant collections, and the central square and Conservatory exhibiting exotic plants from South Africa and southern Europe.{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}}

=Zweetkamertje=

thumb

The "Sweat Room" ({{langx|nl|Zweetkamertje}}) is a small chamber in the university's Academy Building, traditionally used by doctoral candidates awaiting the results of their PhD defenses. The room is renowned for its walls covered with the signatures of graduates, including notable figures such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and members of the Dutch royal family.{{cite web

| title = Leiden Classics: the ‘Sweat Room’

| website = Leiden University

| date = 19 October 2017

| url = https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2017/10/leiden-classics-the-%E2%80%98sweat-room%E2%80%99

| access-date = 3 May 2025

}} Originally serving as a meeting room for university curators, the Zweetkamertje became associated with doctoral examinations in the 18th century. Candidates would wait in this room before defending their dissertations, often experiencing considerable anxiety, hence the name. Over time, it became customary for successful candidates to inscribe their names on the walls as a rite of passage.{{cite web

| title = Zweetkamertje (Sweat Room)

| website = Atlas Obscura

| url = https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zweetkamertje-sweat-room

| access-date = 3 May 2025

}} The tradition of signing the Zweetkamertje walls is a cherished aspect of Leiden University's heritage. The room features thousands of signatures, including those of honorary doctorate recipients. In 2014, a crowdfunding campaign successfully raised funds to restore the room's deteriorating plaster, ensuring the preservation of this unique historical record.{{cite web

| title = Save your signature

| website = Steun Leiden

| url = https://www.steunleiden.nl/project/het-zweetkamertje-is-gered?locale=en

| access-date = 3 May 2025

}}

=Campus The Hague=

File:Wijnhaven Lecture Hall.jpg

In 1998, the university has expanded to The Hague which has become home to Campus The Hague, with six of the seven faculties represented and exclusive home to the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, International Studies and Leiden University College The Hague, a liberal arts and sciences college. Here, the university offers academic courses in the fields of law, political science, public administration and medicine. It occupied a number of buildings in the centre of the city, including a college building at Lange Voorhout, before moving into the new 'Wijnhaven' building on Turfmarkt in 2016.

The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs was established in 2011, together with the University College, and one of the largest programmes of the Faculty of Humanities, International Studies.

Since 2017 Leiden University Medical Center also has a branch at Campus The Hague.

Organisation

File:Leiden163.JPG

File:Leiden92.JPG

File:Huygens and Oort Buildings.JPG

File:Leiden University - Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium 7007.jpg

The university is divided into seven major faculties which offer approximately 50 undergraduate degree programmes and over 100 graduate programmes.

Academic profile

=Undergraduate studies=

Most of the university's departments offer their degree programme(s). Undergraduate programmes lead to either a B.A., B.Sc., or LL.B. degree. Other degrees, such as the B.Eng. or B.F.A., are not awarded at Leiden University.

=Graduate studies=

Students can choose from a range of graduate programmes. Most of the above-mentioned undergraduate programmes can be continued with either a general or a specialised graduate program. Leiden University offers more than 100 graduate programs leading to either MA, MSc, MPhil, or LLM degrees. The MPhil is the most advanced graduate degree and is awarded by select university departments (mostly in the fields of Arts, Social Sciences, Archeology, Philosophy, and Theology). Admission to these programmes is highly selective and primarily aimed at those students opting for an academic career or before going into law or medicine. Traditionally, the MPhil degree enabled its holder to teach at the university levels as an associate professor.

File:Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen Leiden.jpg-building, the main building of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences]]

=Doctorate programmes=

File:Leiden-Sterrewacht-06.jpg

In addition, most departments, affiliated (research) institutes, or faculties offer doctorate programmes or positions, leading to the Ph.D. degree. Most of the Ph.D. programmes offered by the university are concentrated in several research schools or institutes.

=Research schools and affiliated institutes=

File:Onderzoeksgebouw LUMC Leiden.jpg

Leiden University has more than 50 research and graduate schools and institutes. Some of them are fully affiliated with one faculty of the university, while others are interfaculty institutes or interuniversity institutes.

class="wikitable"
align=left\|Institute !
ACPA \|Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
ASC \| African Studies Centre Leiden
CML \|Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML){{cite web\|url=http://www.cml.leiden.edu/ \|title=Institute of Environmental Sciences \|publisher=Cml.leiden.edu \|date=2012-09-20 \|access-date=2012-09-26}}
CRC \| Crisis Research Centre{{cite web\|url=http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/programmes/crisis-and-security-management1/en/introduction/ \|title=Crisis and Security Management \|publisher=En.mastersinleiden.nl \|access-date=2012-09-26}}
CTI \| Centre for Language and Identity
CWTS \| Centre for Science and Technology Studies
The Meijers Research Institute \| Research School for Legal Studies
eLaw@Leiden \| Centre for Law in the Information Society
Grotius Centre \| Research Centre for International Legal Studies
GSS \| Leiden Graduate School of Science
Historical Institute \| Leiden University Institute for History
Huizinga Instituut \| Research Institute and Graduate School for Cultural History
IBL \| Institute of Biology Leiden
IIAS \| International Institute for Asian Studies
IIASL \| International Institute of Air and Space Law
IOPS \| Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Sociometrics
ITC \|International Tax Centre (ITC){{cite web\|url=http://www.itc-leiden.nl/ \|title=International Tax Centre \|publisher=Itc-leiden.nl \|access-date=2012-09-26}}
LACDR \| The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research
LCMBS \| Leiden Centre for Molecular BioScience
LEAD \| Leiden Ethnosystems and Development Programme, Faculty of Science[http://science.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/lead/index/ Leiden Ethnosystems and Development Programme, [], [http://science.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/lead/index/ LEAD]]
Leyden Academy \|Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing{{cite web\|url=http://www.leydenacademy.nl \|title=Leiden Academy on Vitality and Ageing \|publisher=Leydenacademy.nl \|access-date=2015-07-16}}
LGSAS \| Leiden Graduate School for Archeology
LIACS \| Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science{{cite web\|url=http://www.liacs.nl/home-en/ \|title=LIACS (Advanced Computer Science) \|publisher=Liacs.nl \|access-date=2012-09-26}}
LIAS \| Leiden Institute for Area Studies
LIBC \|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition{{cite web\|url=http://www.libc-leiden.nl \|title=Brain & Cognition \|publisher=Libc-leiden.nl \|access-date=2012-09-26}}
LIC \| Leiden Institute of Chemistry
LION \| Leiden Institute of Physics
LISOR \| Leiden Institute for the Study of Religion
LUCAS \| Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society
LUCL \| Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
LUMC \| Leiden University Medical Centre
Mediëvistiek \| Netherlands Research School for Medieval Studies
MI \| Mathematical Institute{{cite web\|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-institutes/science/mathematical-institute \|title=Mathematical Institute \|access-date=2021-11-17}}
NIG \| Netherlands Institute of Government
NINO \| Netherlands Institute for the Near East
NOVA \| Netherlands Research School for Astronomy
N.W. Posthumus Instituut \| Netherlands Research Institute and School for Economic and Social History
OIKOS \| National Research School in Classical Studies
Onderzoekschool Kunstgeschiedenis \| Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History
OSL \| Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies
PALLAS \| Pallas Institute for Cultural Disciplines
Sterrewacht Leiden \| Leiden Astronomical Observatory
The Europa Institute \| Leiden Law School
Van Vollenhoven Institute \|Research Institute for Law, Governance and Society

class="wikitable"

align=left|Institute

ACPA

|Academy of Creative and Performing Arts

ASC

| African Studies Centre Leiden

CML

|Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML){{cite web|url=http://www.cml.leiden.edu/ |title=Institute of Environmental Sciences |publisher=Cml.leiden.edu |date=2012-09-20 |access-date=2012-09-26}}

CRC

| Crisis Research Centre{{cite web|url=http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/programmes/crisis-and-security-management1/en/introduction/ |title=Crisis and Security Management |publisher=En.mastersinleiden.nl |access-date=2012-09-26}}

CTI

| Centre for Language and Identity

CWTS

| Centre for Science and Technology Studies

The Meijers Research Institute

| Research School for Legal Studies

eLaw@Leiden

| Centre for Law in the Information Society

Grotius Centre

| Research Centre for International Legal Studies

GSS

| Leiden Graduate School of Science

Historical Institute

| Leiden University Institute for History

Huizinga Instituut

| Research Institute and Graduate School for Cultural History

IBL

| Institute of Biology Leiden

IIAS

| International Institute for Asian Studies

IIASL

| International Institute of Air and Space Law

IOPS

| Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Sociometrics

ITC

|International Tax Centre (ITC){{cite web|url=http://www.itc-leiden.nl/ |title=International Tax Centre |publisher=Itc-leiden.nl |access-date=2012-09-26}}

LACDR

| The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research

LCMBS

| Leiden Centre for Molecular BioScience

LEAD

| Leiden Ethnosystems and Development Programme, Faculty of Science[http://science.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/lead/index/ Leiden Ethnosystems and Development Programme, [], [http://science.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/lead/index/ LEAD]]

Leyden Academy

|Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing{{cite web|url=http://www.leydenacademy.nl |title=Leiden Academy on Vitality and Ageing |publisher=Leydenacademy.nl |access-date=2015-07-16}}

LGSAS

| Leiden Graduate School for Archeology

LIACS

| Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science{{cite web|url=http://www.liacs.nl/home-en/ |title=LIACS (Advanced Computer Science) |publisher=Liacs.nl |access-date=2012-09-26}}

LIAS

| Leiden Institute for Area Studies

LIBC

|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition{{cite web|url=http://www.libc-leiden.nl |title=Brain & Cognition |publisher=Libc-leiden.nl |access-date=2012-09-26}}

LIC

| Leiden Institute of Chemistry

LION

| Leiden Institute of Physics

LISOR

| Leiden Institute for the Study of Religion

LUCAS

| Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society

LUCL

| Leiden University Centre for Linguistics

LUMC

| Leiden University Medical Centre

Mediëvistiek

| Netherlands Research School for Medieval Studies

| Mathematical Institute{{cite web|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-institutes/science/mathematical-institute |title=Mathematical Institute |access-date=2021-11-17}}

NIG

| Netherlands Institute of Government

NINO

| Netherlands Institute for the Near East

NOVA

| Netherlands Research School for Astronomy

N.W. Posthumus Instituut

| Netherlands Research Institute and School for Economic and Social History

OIKOS

| National Research School in Classical Studies

Onderzoekschool Kunstgeschiedenis

| Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History

OSL

| Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies

PALLAS

| Pallas Institute for Cultural Disciplines

Sterrewacht Leiden

| Leiden Astronomical Observatory

The Europa Institute

| Leiden Law School

Van Vollenhoven Institute

|Research Institute for Law, Governance and Society

Rankings and reputation

{{Infobox university rankings

| ARWU_W = 101-150 | ARWU_W_year = 2024 | ARWU_W_ref = {{cite web|url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/arwu/2024|title=2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities|access-date=23 February 2025|publisher=Shanghai Ranking Consultancy}}

| CWTS_W = 72 | CWTS_W_year = 2024 | CWTS_W_ref = {{cite web|url=https://www.leidenranking.com/ranking/2024/list|title=CWTS Leiden Ranking 2024 – PP top 10%|access-date=23 February 2025|work=CWTS Leiden Ranking}}

| CWUR_W = 80 | CWUR_W_year = 2024 | CWUR_W_ref = {{cite web|url=https://cwur.org/2024.php|title=CWUR – World University Rankings 2024|access-date=23 February 2025|work=Center for World University Rankings}}

| QS_W = =141| QS_W_year = 2025 | QS_W_ref = {{cite web|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings|title=QS World University Rankings 2025|access-date=23 February 2025|publisher=Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd.}}

| Reuters_W =71 | Reuters_W_year = 2019 | Reuters_W_ref ={{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/innovative-universities-2019|title=Reuters World's Top 100 Innovative Universities 2019|access-date=8 January 2021|work=Thomson Reuters}}

| THE_W = =73 | THE_W_year = 2025 | THE_W_ref = {{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/world-ranking#!|title=World University Rankings 2025|access-date=23 February 2025|work=Times Higher Education (THE)|language=en}}

| USNWR_W = =56 | USNWR_W_year = 2024-25 | USNWR_W_ref = {{Cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings|title=2024-2025 Best Global Universities Rankings|access-date=23 February 2025|work=U.S. News & World Report}}

| QS_W_Law = 24 | QS_W_Law_year = 2024 | QS_W_Law_ref ={{Cite news |url=https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/law-legal-studies?page=1 |title=QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Law & Legal Studies |work=Top Universities |access-date=27 September 2024 |language=en}}

|THE_W_Law=21 | THE_W_Law_year=2025 | THE_W_Law_ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/subject-ranking/law|title=World University Rankings by Subject 2025: Law|work=THE|access-date=23 February 2025|language=en}}

| ARWU_W_SOC= 27 | ARWU_W_SOC_year = 2024 |ARWU_W_SOC_ref={{cite web|url=https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gras/2024/RS0512|title=2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects - Political Sciences|access-date=23 February 2025|publisher=Shanghai Ranking Consultancy}}

| QS_W_Arts = 45 | QS_W_Arts_year=2024 | QS_W_Arts_ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/arts-humanities|title=QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Arts and Humanities |work=QS|access-date=23 February 2025|language=en}}

| QS_W_Politics = 14 | QS_W_Politics_year=2024 | QS_W_Politics_ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/politics|title=QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Politics |work=QS|access-date=23 February 2025|language=en}}

| THE_W_Arts=21 | THE_W_Arts_year=2025 | THE_W_Arts_ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2025/subject-ranking/arts-and-humanities|title=World University Rankings by Subject 2025: Arts and Humanities | work=THE | access-date=23 February 2025 | language=en}}

}}

=Notable alumni and professors=

Of the 107 Spinoza Prize laureates (the highest scientific award of The Netherlands), twenty-six were granted to professors of Leiden University. Literary historian Frits van Oostrom was the first professor of Leiden to be granted the Spinoza award for his work on developing the NLCM centre (Dutch literature and culture in the Middle Ages) into a top research centre. Other Spinoza Prize winners are linguists Frederik Kortlandt and Pieter Muysken, mathematician Hendrik Lenstra, physicists Carlo Beenakker, Jan Zaanen, Dirk Bouwmeester and Michel Orrit, astronomers Ewine van Dishoeck, Marijn Franx and Alexander Tielens, transplantation biologist Els Goulmy, clinical epidemiologist Frits Rosendaal, pedagogue Marinus van IJzendoorn, archeologists Wil Roebroeks and Corinne Hofman, neurologist Michel Ferrari, classicist Ineke Sluiter, social psychologist Naomi Ellemers, statistician Aad van der Vaart, cognitive psychologist Eveline Crone, organisation psychologist Carsten de Dreu, chemical immunologist Sjaak Neefjes, parasitologist Maria Yazdanbakhsh, electrochemist Mark Koper and astrophysicist Ignas Snellen.

The Stevin Prize laureates who have achieved exceptional success in knowledge exchange and impact for society include the following Leiden professors: health psychologist Andrea Evers, immunology technologist Ton Schumacher and psychologist Judi Mesman.{{cite web|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/academic-staff/leiden-spinoza-prize-laureates |title=Leiden Spinoza and Stevin Prize laureates |publisher=Leiden University |date=3 September 2021 |access-date=3 September 2021}}

Other notable Leiden researchers were the Arabist and Islam expert Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the law expert Cornelis van Vollenhoven and historian Johan Huizinga, all during the 1920s and 1930s. Martinus Beijerinck, one of the founders of virology, finished his Ph.D. at Leiden in 1877.

=Nobel laureates=

Kamerlingh Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913. Three other professors received the Nobel Prize for their research performed at Universiteit Leiden: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman received the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work in the field of optical and electronic phenomena, and the physiologist Willem Einthoven for his invention of the string galvanometer, which among other things, enabled the development of electrocardiography.

Nobel laureates associated with Leiden include the physicists Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Paul Ehrenfest. Other Leiden-affiliated Nobel laureates include Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Tobias Asser, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Igor Tamm, Jan Tinbergen, Nikolaas Tinbergen, Tjalling Koopmans, Nicolaas Bloembergen, and Niels Jerne.[https://www.universityleiden.nl/en/academic-staff/nobel-prize-laureates Leiden's Nobel Laureates] – website of the Leiden University