Master of Laws in International and European Law (Comparative Law and Transnational Dispute Resolution)
The Comparative Law and Transnational Dispute Resolution specialisation is designed for students who want to develop a career that looks beyond the borders of their own jurisdiction, or who are seeking to integrate comparative law into their research. This specialization consists of four carefully selected mandatory courses, complemented by the opportunity to handpick additional courses from a wide range of topics of European (EU) or international relevance, enabling students to tailor their educational programme to their personal interests and career goals.
What
The mandatory part is divided into two main pillars. The first pillar focuses on Comparative Law. This course will immerse students in the theory and praxis of legal comparison, with a view for equipping them with the needed skills for thinking law across borders and legal cultures. The second pillar centres on Transnational Dispute Resolution. The aim here is, first and foremost, to train students in private international law and to equip them with the international mindset needed to tackle complex cross-border legal problems. In addition, the program seeks to familiarize students with the general principles of international and European civil procedure.
In addition, 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 (whether in research, legal practice, or an international institution), this programme offers many opportunities. While enabling students to focus on particular subjects of interest, such as additional courses on dispute resolution, including arbitration, or participation in a moot court, 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 specialization prepares students for the international professional life that is increasingly the reality of law professionals all over the world.
For whom
The admission requirements may vary. Depending on your prior education, you can either enrol directly or there may be additional requirements.
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 forty-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
Completing the Master's dissertation is a requirement for any student who wants to obtain their Master’s degree. The Master’s dissertation is an original piece of research. Its aim is to develop and strengthen the students’ research skills. Students select a topic and receive guidance from a supervisor throughout the academic year.
Labour Market
The programme enables the students to enhance their career chances greatly when applying for an international legal job.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Knowledge and creativity: students are taught to use legal methods to solve complex problems and to make a contribution to jurisprudential knowledge through research.
- Independence: through confrontation with real and contemporary issues students are challenged to do their own research and analysis.
- Critical thinking: students are taught to appreciate the international context and the relevance of national legal orders and cultures.
- Skills: LLM studies develop their competencies within a diverse, multi-national setting, with emphasis on legal English skills, autonomous legal writing, specific law terminology, presentation, argumentation and negotiation skills.
- Pluralism: LLM studies seek to foster awareness and openness towards the various national and cultural differences both through formal education and through informal experiences.
Strengths
- Intake guidance is essential. The LLM Programme invests 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 and benefit from numerous modules from the extracurricular Supporting Skills for Lawyers Framework aimed at developing various soft skills the future practitioners might need.
- Curriculum flexibility: Ghent Law School offers four different specialisations within the LLM Programme 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.
- Active learning: the LLM Programme attaches 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.
- International outlook: the LLM specialisations 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.
Challenges
- Guarantee that all teachers have the same view on assessment.
- Increase student and alumni involvement in quality assurance and organize focus group interviews on a regular basis with students
- Benchmark the programme profile and outcomes with comparable programmes abroad.
Accreditation
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The resulting Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found
This information was last updated on 16/07/2025.
If you have questions or suggestions about the publicly available information, please get in touch with the study programme.