Master of Laws in International and European Law: International and National Legal Orders Ghent University Law School

International and National Legal Orders specialization offers the broadest spectrum of options available for students with an international career or research orientation in comparative law. It allows students to handpick courses from a wealth of topics of European (EU) or international relevance, enabling students to create an educational programme tailored to their personal interests and career needs. This flexibility is balanced out by the presence of a solid basis in the form of carefully selected mandatory courses on national and international legal systems and their interplay.

About the programme

What

Ghent University Law School has a wide array of English language courses on a great variety of European and international law issues. This LLM specialisation provides students with an opportunity to design their own curricula in accordance with their career priorities. It enables them to gain expertise on many contemporary topical issues of European, international and comparative law.

For students seeking to broadly develop their skills and knowledge for a career with an international dimension, this programme offers many opportunities. While enabling students to focus on particular subjects of interest, it also fully accommodates the needs of those students who seek a general European and international law education. With its combination of academic modules and supporting skills, the specialisation prepares students for the international professional life that is increasingly the reality of law professionals all over the world.

Structure

Students need to obtain 60 credits, over a period of two semesters. There is great flexibility in shaping one’s own curriculum.

Fifteen credits cover courses specializing in comparative law and method, international and European procedure law and international private law. Ten more credits are dedicated to the compulsory supporting courses dealing mainly with various legal and political developments in order to broaden the horizons of legal professionals. Students are also required to write a fifteen-credits’ worth LLM Paper in connection with one of the courses on the curriculum.

The remaining credits are filled with elective courses on a variety of topics from the following fields: European Law, Economic and Social Law, Environmental Law, Public International Law, Criminal Law and Human Rights Law. Students can choose from approximately fourty five different courses, all of which are taught exclusively in English. Teaching is generally done interactively, requiring advanced reading and class participation. The programme typically hosts several internationally reputed guest professors with a rotation on a yearly basis. Students can also choose to participate in one of the various moot courts or legal clinic as an official part of their curricula.

Organised social activities are an important part of the LLM-experience, and not all are extracurricular. Curricular activities include guided visits to important EU and international institutions, and participation in several colloquia.

Master's dissertation

The master's dissertation is a requirement for every candidate to obtain a master’s degree. The master's dissertation is an original piece of research work. It aims to develop and strengthen the research capacity skills of the students. The student selects a topic and is given guidance by a promoter or supervisor throughout the academic year.

Study programme quality

Strengths

1. Intake guidance is essential. The LLM-programmes invest substantially in reaching out to the appropriate candidates and in guiding them towards application and admission. The guidance continues after the start of the academic year. Incoming students participate in an extensive Orientation programme.
2. Curriculum flexibility: Ghent law school offers three different LLM programmes that reflect varying career aspirations. Within the framework of your personal position and ambitions, you are able to design the curriculum that best fits your needs.
3. Active learning: the LLM-programmes attach great importance to teaching methods that ensure students are not passive absorbers of knowledge. Instead they are encouraged to do independent research and to think critically through class preparation assignments, small papers throughout the semester, essay questions and the like.
4. International outlook: the programmes reflect their European and international outreach beyond the subject matters offered. The body of professors and lecturers consists of experts with wide international exposure and experience.
5. Stakeholder engagement: a key strength of the study programmes is the strong link and interaction with the professional world and the broad institutional reality of EU and international law, providing students with information about the actual operations and common practices on the ground and preparing them for a professional career.

Admission Requirements

To have a law degree, i.e. the degree that - in its country of origin - is required for the exercise of the legal professions. Students who are graduating may apply and can be conditionally admitted, subject to the successful completion of their degree.

After an examination of their curriculum and in view of their acquired competences, candidates may be admitted who have a university degree other than law. In such case, the admission may be made subject to limitations with respect to the courses to be followed.

To present proof of sufficient English proficiency at C1-level.

To have sufficient financial support, either through personal financial means or via financial aid.

To apply for admission to the LLM-programme before the deadline, with the completed application form and all required documents.

Information on admission requirements and the administrative procedure for admission on the basis of a diploma obtained abroad, can be found on the following page: https://www.ugent.be/prospect/en/administration/enrolment-or-registration.

Off to a good start

Application deadline (for international degree students)

For both Belgian and international students:

The application for this advanced master programme is to be started up via Oasis.

The application form and the accompanying documents, in electronic version, should reach the International Admissions Desk in the spring of the year preceding the academic year for which you are applying. Please refer to the different application deadlines mentioned below for EU/EEA citizen students, non EU/EEA citizen students and students holding a Belgian diploma.

Early applications are recommended (certainly for students in need of visa) and will be decided upon between February and June/early July.

Applications received after June will be considered if the number of students admitted previously permits.

Application Deadlines:

1st of April for non EU/EEA citizen students,

1st of July for non EU/EEA citizen students living in Belgium with a valid residence permit,

1st of July for EU/EEA citizen students.

Tuition Fee

6540,10 euro