Bachelor of Laws in Laws
A student of law is not predestined to becoming a lawyer, a magistrate or a notary public. Legal experts also find employment in business world, in government services or in politics. Our programme covers various branches of the law and offers a variety of legal issues and case studies.
What
Despite being one of the oldest university programmes, students nowadays are still interested in the study of law. The reasons are obvious: with one domain after another becoming ‘judicialised’, the ever-increasing complexity of today’s society has a clear impact on the law. Most important decisions require sound legal advice, and legal experts take on key positions in society. In the olden days, a student of law was almost certainly predestined to becoming a lawyer, a magistrate or a notary public. The focus of law studies was on civil law and criminal law.
Nowadays, the focus of our study programme has become much broader. Our graduates no longer exclusively make it into the magistracy, the notarial or legal profession, but also find their way into the private sector, in government services or international organisations. Our programme can also be the perfect stepping-stone towards a political career. The study of law, in other words, is so much more than “learning stuff by heart”. It is an interesting, versatile discipline with favourable career opportunities.
For whom
Studying the law requires no specific prior knowledge. Since the learning contents are entirely new, it means a fresh start for everyone. There is no such thing as a specific legal intelligence, or “a flair for legal studies”. Legal experts keep their eyes and ears open to hot topics on the news. You take an interest in society and in historical evolutions, and you follow the political and legal news closely. You are motivated to analyse complex issues in a variety of social domains, to report on them, and to apply the rules to very specific situations. You have sufficient power of abstraction and linguistic proficiency to do so.
We place great store by linguistic proficiency: it is important throughout the programme, as well as in your later professional life. Passive proficiency in French is indispensable. Various legal sources are sometimes available exclusively in French. This is does not only apply to more dated sources, but also to verdicts and rulings passed in the French-speaking part of the country. Proficiency in English is a must for anyone aspiring a career in business. If your proficiency in any of these languages is insufficient, there are remedial opportunities for you to consider.
Structure
Bachelor
The Bachelor's programme offers a broad overview of most of the branches of law. In addition to the purely legal course units, the curriculum also contains a broad range of political-philosophical, historical, economic and humanities course units. We expect you to be a smooth talker and have a facile pen. You will hone these skills (written and oral) further during exercises and the Bachelor’s dissertation. These exercises have as additional asset that they are an ideal preparation for the exam.
Master
Our two-year Master’s programme has a highly flexible curriculum. It contains six mandatory course units and room for twelve-odd electives. There are several lists of electives to choose from: ‘course units with a skills component’ (work placement, international moot court, a legal clinic...), ‘in-depth course units’ (in-depth study of a branch of law), and ‘broadening course units’ (specific legal or metalegal subjects). Your choice of electives depends on your personal interests, your future career choices, the teaching style, etc. The programme allows you to specialise to a certain extent, while your diploma still remains generally applicable to all legal professions. The two-year Master’s curriculum contains a Master’s dissertation, for the purpose of which you will set up and conduct independent legal research. At the end of the programme you will present your findings in the form of a written thesis.
- A Bachelor’s degree in Law also gives access to other Master programmes than the ones mentioned here. Please take a look at the tab “Postgraduate Studies”.
Labour Market
The labour market is ever-changing. Still, there are a number of trends we have observed and want to point out. First, only a small group of graduates makes it into the magistracy, the notarial or legal profession. Second, there is a growing need for corporate lawyers. And third, more and more ‘polyvalent’ positions are taken up by legal experts. This disconnection between diploma and future profession is a trend that has been establishing itself for some time now. Those so-called polyvalent positions are becoming increasingly complex, in which case a legal background comes in handy. That is why these positions are now often taken by legal experts. Last but not least, our programme is an ideal starting point for a political career.
Take a look at our faculty website for career testimonials by legal experts (in Dutch). Other interesting testimonials can be found at www.durfdenken.be (in Dutch).
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 talent development: we offer a compact, sequential and complete helicopter view of Belgian, European and international law. We follow current developments closely. We instil in our students an attitude of critical reflection throughout the programme. Our graduates are versatile legal experts.
- Specialization: we offer our students ample opportunity for the in-depth study of specific branches of the law. The Master’s curriculum contains a broad range of electives covering the various legal branches. In addition, the ‘work placement’ course unit offers the possibility of a first professional experience.
- Putting theory into practice: our programme does not confine itself to theoretical frameworks. In addition, we hone our students’ various practical skills. The Bachelor’s curriculum focuses on written and oral skills whereas the Master’s curriculum emphasizes on professional and academic skills. Skills sessions always take place in small groups. The emphasis is on problem-solving skills.
- Internationalization: we offer our students an opportunity to study abroad during one or two terms. In addition, our students can choose from a number of English-taught course units, like the moot courts.
- Independence: we want to train legal experts who are at the same time independent professionals.
Strengths
- Our programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers from various disciplines. Our lecturers combine their research expertise and professional experience with a passionate commitment to the quality of their teaching practice. Large student groups do not deter our teaching staff from being easily accessible to students.
- The Master’s curriculum offers opportunities for the in-depth study of various domains of Belgian, European or international law.
- Our programme’s quality assurance is robust and data-driven: we analyse date from various surveys and the feedback provided by our student representatives systematically. Hence our programme has become efficient in detecting and improving weakness, always in consultation with all our internal stakeholders (students, lecturers, assistants, study track counsellors and education support staff).
- We have a solid assessment vision and assessment policy. Transparency in assessment is key. Our students appreciate the fact that they are well informed about the form and content of the assessments. It gives them a clear view of what to expect while studying.
- Student participation: our programme has a long-standing tradition of student involvement in the development and day-to-day policy of our programme. We place great store by our students’ opinion in the context of the course feedback.
- Study counselling: we place great store by solid student support. The Counselling Office and its tireless study track counsellors allow us to offer study counselling tailored to the student’s needs.
Challenges
- Active teaching: only to a limited extent do we apply active teaching methods in our theoretical course units. We are currently looking for ways to put active teaching into practice when dealing with large student groups.
- Feedback: our students indicate that they receive insufficient feedback on assignments throughout the year. We are looking for ways to organise feedback (not just end-of-term feedback) in a meaningful way.
- More focus on ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘social engagement’: although the study programme places great store by these topics, we address them in a rather ad hoc and fragmented manner throughout the curriculum. We want to embed these topics more firmly into the curriculum and offer students maximum opportunities to develop the related competencies
- Internationalisation: because studying abroad is not an obvious and feasible choice for everyone, we want to focus more on Internationalisation@Home initiatives and on expanding internationalisation of our programme.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization 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 Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 14/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.