Course units

General

All first year LLB students are registered at the start of the academic year for the so-called Workshops Starting your Academic Career (SYAC). The SYAC workshops are meant to ease the transition from high school to university. The SYAC workshop will deal with several topics with regard to study skills of the first year students. The small size of the group (half your working group) will accommodate getting to know your peers.

Mentors

Students are supervised by mentors (advanced Law students). These mentors will help students get acquainted to all study related subjects Law students will face. The mentor is also, as are the study advisers of the International Office, available for students to pose questions to.

Last update 21-6-2024

General

The Research Colloquium aims to:
a. improve the writing and communication skills;
b. deepen the research skills;
c. add to the academic formation.

Students need to write and present their bachelor theses; they are expected to work independently but under the supervision of their supervisor. Students will formulate an academically relevant research question, set up a research plan, collect, analyse and evaluate relevant information and data, and formulate conclusions based on the research conducted. Research results have to be clearly presented in a research paper and orally presented and defended in front of lecturers and fellow students. Students will be evaluated on their research and presentation skills.

Bachelor concluding course unit

The Research Colloquium is the bachelor-concluding course unit within the LLB programme International and European Law. This course is therefore only open to students who are in the final stages of this LLB programme.

Requirements

You can participate in the Research Colloquium when you have obtained at least 90 ECTS including all first year courses. These credits need to be available in Progress.

The Board of Examiners can deviate from this rule at the request of a student in case of extraordinary circumstances.

For more information, please check Ocasys.

Enrolment

More information about the enrolment procedure can be found here.

Last update: 31-07-2024

General

A seminar is an educational form in which academic and legal skills are being dealt with. It has a research-like set-up. You will be conducting research, do assignments, hold presentations, and write papers. It is a training in academic thinking, which, after a thorough analysis has been made, leads to a (creative) solution of a legal question. This solution should be presented clearly and hold all possible arguments.

Skills

The following academic skills will be trained:
• logical reasoning, arguing, creative thinking, analysing problems, making connections;
• verbal skills: argumentation and formulating;
• communicative skills: communicating, presenting and persuading, listening, reading.

The legal skills include:
• handling a legal perspective;
• adequate usage of the descriptive and prescriptive aspects;
• understanding and applying legal texts;
• finding and applying jurisprudence/case law.

Binding enrolment

Enrolment in a seminar is compulsory and binding.

Enrolment will lead to a result in all cases; this could be a pass or fail grade after full participation in the seminar or a fail grade when you have participated insufficiently/quit the seminar.

The Board of Examiners can deviate from the above at the request of a student, based on special circumstances.

Advice

For more information, please check Ocasys.

Enrolment

The International Office will enrol all LLM students for the compulsory seminar of their programme.

Last update: 21-6-2024

General

Every master programme is concluded by the writing of a Master's thesis. In this Master's thesis, a student should show his/her command of academic skills in such a way that he/she, with the knowledge provided during the programme, is able to:

• formulate a scientific phrasing in the legal field;
• set up a research in a responsible scientific manner;
• assemble, classify, analyse, correlate and value the relevant data;
• draw relevant conclusions on the basis of the conducted research and to formulate defendable solutions;
• reproduce the research, the conclusions and solutions in a clear and orderly manner.

The study load of the Master's thesis is arranged for in the Teaching and Examination Regulations of your programme and can also be found in the Thesis Regulation.

Per 1 September 2023, the size of the Master’s thesis has been reduced from 18 ECTS to 12 ECTS and a Law in Practice module is added to each of the English-taught programmes. You can find more information about this in the Transition Regulation. The old set-up of the programmes can be completed until August 2024. Therefore, if you are not completing your LLM programme old style before 1 September 2024, you will have to change to the new set-up of the LLM programmes and as such write a 12 ECTS Master’s thesis and participate in a Law in Practice module.

Thesis enrolment and compulsory elements

In order for all students to have all necessary information about writing a Master’s thesis, all students are required to enrol for the Master’s thesis writing process in the semester before they start the actual research. There are two starting moments for the Master’s thesis writing process each academic year. The enrolment and writing periods are as follows:

• Start per 1 February: enrolment in enrolment period block 2 (October/November)
• Start per 1 September: enrolment in enrolment period block 4 (March/April)

The Master’s thesis writing process consists of several elements:

• participate in the Thesis class;
• participate in the Library instruction;
• participate in the introduction meeting per LLM programme;
• participate in the library workshop per programme.

The Thesis class is offered twice a year and can be found in the list of courses available in the schedule generator. At the start of each academic year, the International Office arranges for all students to participate in a library instruction. Only students who have taken their bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen can be exempt from this library instruction.

Students will have to stick to all deadlines in the Thesis writing process to be able to finish their Master’s thesis within the stated time. The time lines per starting moment are set.

Time line starting moment 1 February

Time line starting moment 1 September

The thesis writing process takes careful planning. Feel free to contact a study adviser at the International Office to help you plan.

Please be aware that the LLM Governance and Law in Digital Society has a Thesis Project for 20 ECTS and as such does not follow the timelines mentioned above. Separate information about the Thesis Project will be provided by the Thesis Coordinator of the programme.

Thesis coordinators

Each LLM programme has its own thesis coordinator:

• Energy and Climate Law: Prof. drE. Woerdman
• European Law in a Global Context: Prof. dr R.A. Wessel
• Global Criminal Law: Dr W. Geelhoed
• Governance and Law in Digital Society: Dr B. Brink
• Health and Technology Law: Prof. dr B.C.A. Toebes
• International Commercial Law: to be announced
• International Human Rights Law: Dr A.G. Hallo de Wolf
• Public International Law: Dr A.G. Hallo de Wolf
• Technology Law and Innovation: Dr J. Milaj-Weishaar

Thesis Regulations

The Faculty has set Thesis Regulationwhich amongst others hold guidelines for thesis writing and information about:

• The compulsory elements of the thesis writing process, e.g. Thesis class, Library instruction, introduction meeting per programme, etc.;
• Choosing a topic;
• Thesis supervision;
• The size;
• The assessment;
• The way of handing in the thesis, etc.

Paper

A student can choose to write a paper instead of taking an optional course. All arranged for above is not applicable to such a paper. Please contact a lecturer with a supervision request if you wish to write such a paper. The paper should at least be 3 ECTS and can be 7 ECTS maximum. The Thesis Regulation indicates which articles are applicable to the writing of a paper.

Last update: 21-6-2024

General

Law in Practice is a collective name for all activities, either inside or outside the Faculty, which allow you in some way to put law or legal science in practice, get in touch with the labour market, and practise important skills according to the labour market. This could e.g,. be done by taking up an internship, participation in a Law Clinic, participation in Moot Courts, etc. More information can be found on the Careers Services Law websiteb and in Ocasys (bachelor and master).

Awarding credits

Only the course units which appear in the overview in Ocasys(bachelor and master) can be awarded with ECTS.

Rules applied when including Law in Practice course units on your list of courses:

• In order to be awarded ECTS for a Law in Practice course unit, the course unit must have prior approval of the Board of Examiners via de graduation process approval in Progress.
• You will also have to, if applicable for your specific Law in Practice course unit, fulfil the requirements arranged for in the Law in Practice Regulation.
• Your job cannot be registered as an internship.
• .
• If you are participating in more than one internship or write more than one paper (or a combination thereof), these cannot be dealing with the same topic.

Contact persons

Overview Faculty contact persons Internships.

Please check Ocasys for the coordinators of the Law in Practice course units.

Last update: 24-07-2024

General

. It is recommended that you do an internship during your studies., An internship can help you make your career choice and also provides relevant work experience that is considered important in job application procedures.

• A suitable time to do an internship is for example in the last year of the bachelor or during the master. You can also use an internship during the master's programme to fill in the Law in Practice component. To get you started in choosing an internship and thinking about your career after the study, all information is available on this webpage, arranged in clear steps. Here you can follow the steps of the career decision making model:Self-analysis
• Exploration
• Decision-making
• Action
• Reflection

Using these steps, you will be prompted to think about your career choice and be able to choose an appropriate internship.

Faculty internship coordinator / Career Coach

Every programme has an internship coordinator. For general questions about internships, you can also contact the Faculty internship coordinator.

Internship Regulation

The Faculty has a Law in Practice Regulation which holds amongst others the guidelines with regard to duration of the internship, the internship supervision, the approval of internships, secrecy, and insurances.

Approval and registration of result

In order for an internship to be a part of a programme, it must be approved by the Board of Examiners. You can apply for this approval through this link.

Formal approval

The internship coordinator of your programme needs to approve your internship before it starts. The internship needs to be formally approved. You need to meet the formal demands for the internship and final report, as arranged for in the Internship Regulation.

Combination with a paper

An internship and a paper cannot be dealing with the same topic. This also goes for two internships and two papers when taken in two different programmes. Within a programme, an activity can only lead to the award of ECTS once.

Internships in Gradleaders Career Center

The internships which are offered to the Faculty are offered in Gradleaders Career Center. This information can be found on the Student Portal. Please click the tab ‘Career’.

Gradleaders Career Center

The tab 'Career' in the Student Portal offers you an overview of some of the career events and vacancies that can be interesting for you and are offered via the Faculty. In order to allow you to properly search the complete list, we advise you to login to the underlying system in which all this information is stored. You can do so by clicking ‘Student Login’. You can find interesting career events and career activities, job offers, internships, (free) workshops in the field of personal development, networking and the writing of a good CV and cover letter.

Goning Global

You will find internships in the Netherlands and abroad in the tab Career on the Student Portal under the heading GoingGlobal.

Community for interns

To best guide you through this process, the Faculty has established so-called online internship communities. An open community for the orientation process mentioned above and a closed community for when you actually start your internship. You will find the open community under My Organizations in the Student Portal and you will be added to the closed community when you have found an internship approved by the internship coordinator. In these communities you will find useful and fun information such as videos and blogs from students who have already done internships. You can also ask questions to fellow students doing internships and the (Faculty) internship coordinators.

Roadmap

You will find all the important steps listed in the roadmap for internships for ECTS.

Last update: 29-07-2024

General

If you are interested in a study period abroad within your programme, you can contact the Faculty’s International OfficeLaw. General information can be found on the website. The International Office organises an information session in October for students interested in going abroad as a part of their studies.

Registration / Deadline

The deadline for registration depends on your destination. You can find more information on the website. It might still be possible to be selected after the deadline, but only for the still available places after the first selection round. If you are interested, please contact the International Office.

Which courses

LLB students
The study period abroad in the LLB programme International and European Law is scheduled for the first semester of year 3. LLB students are allowed to take any law course, which is not part of the LLB programme and some non-law courses which are related to the programme (e.g. criminology, international relations, political science, etc.). Please be aware that at least 25 ECTS out of the 30 ECTS should be law credits. The categorisation of the courses is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners.

LLM students
It is also possible for LLM students to go abroad. This will usually be on top of their programme in Groningen, as an extracurricular addition to the LLM programme. This will lead to a study delay in most cases. Optional courses can be taken abroad, as long as they are within the scope of the programme in question.

Please be aware: the Board of Examiners does not accept any language courses as part of the law degree. Language courses can therefore be taken, but can only appear as extra-curricular courses on the degree certificate.

More information about courses can be found on the website.

Approval of courses

All courses need to be approved by the Board of Examiners. This can be done by filling in the correct online form:

Approval form courses abroad LLB students

Approval form courses abroad LLM students

Approval form courses abroad students of Dutch-taught programmes

Registration of results

Results obtained will be registered in Progress as separate courses, provided that the courses are approved by the Board of Examiners. .

Scholarship

More information about scholarships can be found on the website.

Last update 29-07-2024

General

If you are participating in a summer school, winter school or a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) and you would like such course units to appear on your degree certificate, you need to request approval for such course units from the Board of Examiners.

Extracurricular

Since summer schools, winter schools and Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) are never part of your programme, such course units can only be approved as extracurricular course units on your degree certificate. This means they will appear on your list of courses and thus on the diploma supplement, but they do not affect your GPA.

Requirements

Summer schools, winter schools and BIPs can only be approved if they meet the following three requirements:
1. The course unit must have legal relevance (content should be (related to) law);
2. The course unit must be offered by an accredited institution;
3. The course unit must be completed by an individual assessment (exam, test, paper, etc.).

Course units that do not meet these three criteria cannot be approved. You can however always add such course units to your curriculum vitae to show you have participated in extracurricular activities.

Approval form

As indicated, you need to apply for approval for such course units. This can be done by filling in the online form.

Registration

If approved, the results will be registered in Progress as separate courses. Don’t forget to add these to your list of courses in Progress.

Last update 9-8-2024