This week, more than 7,000 undergraduate students from Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam have registered for a minor via eduXchange. For the fourth year running, the registration process has been a success, marking a milestone in the collaboration within the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus alliance.
Since 2023, all students at the three universities have been using the joint eduXchange portal to register for a minor. Uniquely, all minors can be found in a single, clearly organised online catalogue, searchable by keyword across the full range of courses offered by Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam — from subject-specific specialisation minors, to broadening minors and interdisciplinary joint minors that exist only within LDE.
Marja Verstelle, Education Project Manager at Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities: 'The universities want to encourage their students to take a minor at another university, in order to produce graduates with a broader education.'
'We operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so students know straight away whether they’ve been accepted, and if not, they can immediately apply for another minor. That’s a major advantage of this collaboration: as a student, you don’t have to wait weeks or months for the results. Students don’t realise it, but processing such huge numbers of enrolments in such a short time requires close coordination between the three universities, SURF and the organisations behind the student information systems; every year, we manage to pull it off together.'
Content is the main deciding factor
Discussions with students at the minor fairs in Delft and Leiden show that content is by far the most important reason for choosing a particular minor. Students carefully consider what a minor has to offer in terms of content, but also the opportunities it opens up for a master’s degree — or even a switch to a different master’s programme.
One platform, three universities, always a minor to suit
Through eduXchange, students can view the full range of minors offered by Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam in a single overview — including the joint minors that are unique to the LDE alliance. This allows students to discover minors they might otherwise never have come across, at a university on the other side of the region.
To draw students’ attention to this wide range of options, the three universities ran a joint digital signage campaign. On screens across the campuses in Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam, students were invited to explore what was on offer at the other LDE universities. In addition to the digital offering on eduXchange, students were also warmly welcomed to each other’s minor fairs — to talk to lecturers and fellow students and get a real sense of what a minor has to offer.
