Alumni

Leiden University is proud of its alumni

Our alumni contribute to the University’s success in many different ways. The University in turn contributes to the personal and professional development of its alumni.

Our alumni take up diverse posts in the Netherlands and abroad, where their knowledge and experience enable them to make a valuable contribution to society. We help our alumni by providing information, career advice and opportunities for network building and by organising a series of events. The alumni magazine Leidraad is published three times a year and alumni receive a dedicated newsletter every month. For Leiden’s young alumni, there is also the Young Alumni Network. Our alumni also contribute to our teaching and research, and enhance our reputation. They help students and young alumni explore their career options, through the online Mentor Network, for instance. This gives students and young alumni the opportunity to ask experienced alumni for career advice.

LEIDEN UNIVERSITY FUND The Leiden University Fund (LUF) helps ambitions flourish. Not all academic teaching and research is government funded, which makes contributions from donors essential. With the generous support of our donors, scholars in Leiden are able to work on innovative research that contributes to the world of tomorrow, and talented students can use grants to gain experience and knowledge abroad or organise study trips, conferences and cultural activities.

THE SWEAT ROOM This is possibly Leiden University’s most popular tradition: when they graduate, students are invited to sign their name for eternity on the walls of the Sweat Room. We do not know who was the first person to sign their name, but the practice has become a longstanding tradition, and many thousands of alumni have pencilled their name on these centuries-old walls. The signatures in the Sweat Room include those of Princess Beatrix and Princess Juliana, King Willem-Alexander and Dutch resistance fighter Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. The walls also bear the signatures of such famous Leiden Honorary Doctors as Sir Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela. Visit the Sweat Room online at www.hetzweetkamertje.nl.