The programme of the first year of the Master is made up of:

• Courses and practical exercises from the core courses (spread out across the year) ;
• the supporting seminar for the dissertation (2nd semester) ;
• one optional course, from the fifteen which are available (2nd semester).

The programme of the 2nd year of the Master is made up of:

• a selected focus, from the eight  focuses available, either at UCL, at KUL or abroad (1st semester) ;
• the dissertation (spread out across the year) ;
• a selected optional course, from the fifteen optional courses available — or optional courses in other focuses— or courses taken abroad at a partner university (Erasmus) (2nd semester).

• Classing of course in focuses in options: coherence of subjects and constitution of teaching teams (especially for the options) ;
• Balance between interdisciplinarity and specialisation via choice of two options;
• Dissertation seminar;
• Important place reserved for internships in the focuses.

• Written or oral exams
• Continuous assessment and written production in the practical exercises

In 2010-L2010, UCL is offering a partnership with 72 different universities.
Depending on the exchange university, the student will take part or all of his programme in English.

BILINGUAL EXCHANGES WITH KULEUVEN

Students selected for a one year exchange must take a programme of 9 courses for a total of 45 credits.
They must choose one "professional focus" of 30 credits and a set of optional courses of 15 credits.

1. Professional focuses
   Three focuses are offered

• Professional focus "Privaat- en strafrecht": (Student chooses 5 courses from the following)
  • European contract law (6 credits)
  • Aasprakelijkheidesrecht (6 credits)
  • Familiale geschillendrecht (6 credits)
  • Het strafproces (6 credits)
  • Strafrechtelijck sanctierecht (6 credits)
  • European criminal law (6 credits)
  • Bijzonder strafrecht (6 credits- if student has not taken the course in 'droit pénal spécial' in the first year of the Master)
• Professional focus "Publiekrecht": (Student chooses 5 courses from the following)
  • Federale systemen (6 credits)
  • Instrumentarium van de overheid (6 credits)
  • Rechtsbescherming tegen de overheid (6 credits)
  • Vreemdelingsrecht (6 credits)
  • Onderwijsrecht (6 credits)
  • Milieu- en energierecht (6 credits)
• Professional focus "Economische recht":
  • Venootschapsrecht (6 credits)
  • Marktrecht (6 credits)
  • Verzekeringsrecht (6 credits)
  • Bank- en effectenrecht (6 credits)
  • Intellectuele rechten (6 credits)

1. Optional courses
   The student must complete his programme with optional courses, amounting to at least 15 credits:
   • either 4 "aanvullende keuzevakken" of 4 credits each (16 credits) from a list of 30 courses
   • or 3 "aanvullende keuzevakken" of 4 credits each from a list of 30 courses and 1 "reflectiecollege" of 5 credits from a list of 9 courses (17 credits)

Human rights have been expanding dramatically since 1990, and their impacts on other branches of law (including family law, administrative law, environmental law, civil procedure, trade law) are significant. International and European case-law has also developed spectacularly during this pe-riod ; and human rights are increasingly invoked before domestic courts. It has therefore been deemed appropriate to offer an option focusing on human rights in the programme of the masters in law, allowing the students to acquire the conceptual tools required to master this subject matter, and to follow its evolutions.

The human rights option includes three courses, each of 30 hours :

• DROP 2090 Leading Cases of the European Court of Human Rights (J. Callewaert) : study of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights
• DROP 2091 International Protection of Human Rights (O. De Schutter) : study of the in-ternational law of human rights, in its international, regional, and national dimensions
• DROP 2092 Droit et migrations (J.-Y. Carlier) : study of the different forms of interna-tional migration (asylum, family reunification, economic immigration) and of their in-teractions with the relevant human rights principles

The three courses included in the human rights option are interdependent and complementary. The lecturers have made a special effort to avoid any significant overlap between the courses. In addi-tion, one joint one-day seminar shall be held every year, introduced by an external invitee, on a theme of common interest. However, each of the courses can be followed independently, and nei-ther is a prerequisite for the others.

The option is bilingual : two of the three courses are taught in English, the language in which the course materials are therefore being made available. The students choosing this option are ex-pected to have at least a passive knowledge of English, and they must be prepared to intervene in this language during the classes, which are interactive. Beyond this minimal requirement, however, a poor pratice of English should not be seen as an obstacle to the participation in this option : the lecturers concerned are committed to ensuring that the students who are less fluent in English shall not be penalized or disadvantaged in any way.

The lecturers teaching in this option are each specialists of the subjects that they teach, and they combine their research with practice, in various capacities : Johan Callewaert is a member of the Legal Registry of the European Court of Human Rights, special advisor to its president ; Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, has often acted as an expert to the Council of Europe or to the European Union, and has a wide experience of human rights non-governmental organisations ; Jean-Yves Carlier is a practicing lawyer, and an expert for the EU in the areas of asylum and immigration.