Programme Overview

Objective

The programme offers each year a selection of 40 international post graduate students a demanding and versatile curriculum that opens fascinating career paths in European and international legal affairs. The programme has for 40 years been successful in combining academic rigor with the latest practical insights and cultural diversity. International audits and the leading positions of its graduates in various international organisations attest to the programme's excellence.

Home

The home of the programme is at the Institute for European Studies (IES). The IES is a thriving Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in European Studies, located from February 2011 onwards in brand new facilities at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). The students join the international staff at the IES, which comprises 45 people from over 25 nationalities, over 20 of whom are doctoral researchers in international and EU affairs. The extended family of the IES also includes the 40 post-graduate students of the IES’s sister programme, the EuroMaster in political sciences and economics. (Find out more about the IES and the EuroMaster programme.) In addition, the students are linked to the staff and students of the programme’s co-organisers, the Law faculty of the VUB.

The location of the IES at the VUB in Brussels gives the programme the opportunity to benefit from the immediate vicinity of EU institutions and numerous international organisations, law firms and companies during the course of the year.

The programme has over 40 years established an alumni of over 1200 professionals. This network covers people in leading positions in an enormous number of international organisations, national administrations and judiciaries, law firms, universities, companies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in all corners of the world. The legacy of this highly qualified staff is one of the key reasons for the high level of applications received each year.

Folkert Graafsma
 
“ The PILC programme has served as an excellent training ground for my clerkship in the European Commission and for my further graduate studies in the United States. PILC provides lawyers with an international outlook and with a solid basis in European and international law. Working in the law firm or institution of tomorrow requires in-depth and up-to-date insight in the dynamics of Brussels of today. PILC will give you all that and much more. „

Folkert Graafsma
Partner Vermulst Verhaeghe & Graafsma

Students



A selection of 40 students from all over the world are admitted annually, after a careful selection process. The Master in International and European Law is in the terminology of the Bologna European educational area a post-graduate "Master after Master" programme. Students are eligible to apply when they have completed their study of law and have received, in accordance with the requirements in their host country, a final law degree that provides access to the legal profession or to the qualifying exams for admission to the Bar.

Our Master programme is proud of its strong group identity. Establishing close personal contacts between the students are a fundamental part of the experience, and will last way beyond the academic year spent together.

 
“

"The alumni are very enthusiastic about the [VUB-PILC] programme and commented during the interviews that the programme directly contributed to their current occupation and gave them a solid background to address the issues they deal with on a daily basis … The graduates find highly positioned jobs at various renowned international organisations."

 „

Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR)
The educational assessment of the Advanced Master’s study programmes in Law, 2007

Programme

The Master (LLM) in International and European Law is obtained in one academic year (i.e. two semesters of four months each, from mid-September until early July).

The educational techniques of the programme include, in addition to the more traditional forms of lecturing, interactive class teaching as well as practical case studies that simulate day to day professional life. The programme offers a balanced, versatile package that requires students to successfully complete:

  • Compulsory, traditional courses to give a broad overview (18 credits) as well as deepening insights (12 credits) into international and EU law.
    - Including a short research paper by teams of up to four students.
  • Optional courses in either the public or business law option (12 credits).
    - Including practical exercises and a real life case study simulation, for instance in the field of European competition law.
  • Compulsory Master's Thesis (18 credits) of good academic standards.

At the end of the academic year the degree of Master (LLM) in International and European Law will be awarded upon the decision of the Academic Board, provided the following requirements have been successfully satisfied:

  • regular attendance in classes
  • a final examination of sufficient level in all subjects
  • a presentation of the Master's thesis in one of the fields covered by the Program.



As a rigorous full-time and day-time programme that requires full time participation, constant class preparations and a continuing study effort, the LLM is extremely difficult to combine with regular employment. See programme contents.