External summary

Since the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in the aftermath of the Second World War, we have seen an extraordinary evolution of international economic relations towards interdependence and integration, and discussions on this process –known as economic globalisation– are commonplace in academic and other fora. This phenomenon of economic globalisation has been accompanied (and supported) by the development of international legal regimes and institutional structures, which have been at the same time the object of much praise and criticism. International economic law has thus developed into an increasingly appealing and specialised discipline, deserving the focus of an advanced degree programme in its own right.

The University of Edinburgh School of Law’s new LLM programme in International Economic Law seeks to equip participants with in-depth legal knowledge and the analytical tools required to appraise today’s global economic system, its evolution and possible reforms in light of the legal and institutional challenges arising from the globalisation of the world economy. The programme offers the opportunity of exploring the field of international economic law under the guidance of academic experts and practitioners, alongside students from all around the world, at one of the leading universities in the United Kingdom with renowned international reputation.

The core courses of the programme are designed to provide students with a theoretical and practical understanding of the core branches of international economic law (i.e. international trade law and international investment law), of the main international economic institutions and of the mechanisms available for resolving disputes. The programme’s structure further allows for an individually tailored selection of optional courses, drawing from relevant courses at the Law School, to match the personal interests and future career plans of participants. A robust understanding of international economic law requires not only specialised legal knowledge and skills, but also consideration of underlying political, economic and social issues. The programme therefore favours an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of international economic law, including through a choice of relevant (optional) courses from the School of Social and Political Science and the School of Economics.

Educational aims of programme

The aim of the programme is to enable students to acquire an advanced knowledge and critical understanding of international economic law, as well as to expose them to current debates in global economic governance.

More specifically, the programme aims to do the following:

• To foster thorough knowledge of the legal concepts, principles and actors of the international economic system, as well as of its evolution and contemporary challenges;

• To develop critical skills for independent analysis of international economic legal and policy issues, and of interactions with other areas of international law;

• To provide students with the academic skills required to analyse the activities of international governmental and non-governmental organisations and private actors in the field of international economic law;

• To encourage openness to different scholarly approaches within law by offering where appropriate the opportunity to complement specialised law courses with relevant courses offered by the School of Social and Political Science, the School of Economics;

• To provide students with a recognised, advanced-level exit qualification equipping them for work in a variety of positions and institutions or further advanced level study.

Programme outcomes: Knowledge and understanding

On successful completion of the programme, students should have gained:

• A comprehensive knowledge of international trade and investment law, the underpinning institutional frameworks and dispute settlement mechanisms;

• A sound knowledge of other areas of international economic law and/or related areas of international law;

• An ability to critically analyse international economic rules, to apply them to case scenarios and to consider possible amendments;

• An ability to critically assess the roles played by the different institutions in international economic law and policy-making and to evaluate possible reforms;

• An ability to apply concepts and theories to describe, explain and evaluate developments in international economic law;

• A critical awareness of policy debates in a range of academic literature on international economic law with a view to informing the legal analysis and reflecting on alternative approaches.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in research and enquiry

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:

• Understand and interpret legal source materials;
• Understand and synthesise secondary materials;
• Retrieve and analyse pertinent data;
• Assess the merits and relevance of different sources;
• Identify and address research questions;
• Articulate, sustain and defend a line of argument;
• Exercise informed independent thought and critical judgment;
• Identify linkages and influences among different areas of international economic law, as well as with other disciplines;
• Conduct research in an appropriate and ethical manner.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy

On successful completion of the programme, students should have acquired the skills to independently:

• Prepare for active participation in seminars and workshops;

• Identify topics for investigation that are of research and personal interest;

• Identify relevant research sources and analyse findings;

• Develop a structured research plan and (where appropriate) select applicable methodologies;

• Produce written research of postgraduate standard which displays analytical rigour of relevant materials as well as critical insight and independence of mind;

• Reflect on their own learning and research techniques and on how to incorporate feedback received.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in communication

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:

• Express information and arguments in a succinct, coherent and persuasive manner, both orally and in writing;

• Discuss research and scholarly work with others;

• Use terminology in international economic law correctly;

• Prepare and present written work in an appropriate format;
• Conduct oral presentations using presentation software.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:

• Work autonomously and as part of a group;

• Organise time and work in light of the nature/importance of the tasks and externally imposed deadlines;

• Think clearly and produce work under pressure;

• Work independently and seek advice when this is appropriate.

Programme outcomes: Technical/practical skills

Programme structure and features

Exit awards

Progression to the dissertation and award of the LLM degree will be decided, in line with the University’s Taught Assessment Regulations, by a Board of Examiners administered in the School of Law and composed of staff teaching on the degree.

Specifically, the normal conditions for progression and exit awards are as follows:

In order to progress to the masters dissertation candidates must:

• attain at least 80 credits with a pass at masters level or more in each of the separate elements, and

• be awarded an aggregate pass at masters level for the 120 credits of study examined at the point of decision for progression, and

• have no course mark below 40% in any 40-credit course, and no more than one course mark below 40% in any 20-credit course.

Students who do not meet the criteria for progression but who receive a pass at diploma level or more in 80 credits and an aggregate pass at diploma level for the 120 credits of study are eligible to receive the Diploma.

In order to be awarded a masters degree candidates must:

• have satisfied the requirements for progression, as laid out above, and

• attain 60 credits, by achieving a pass at masters level for the dissertation.

Any student who meets the criteria for progression but who then does not pass the dissertation is eligible to receive the Diploma.

Students can also exit with a postgraduate certificate on achieving 60 credits from taught elements.

Structure and components of programme

The programme can be studied in full-time and part-time variants.  The full-time route is 12 months’ duration, six courses over two semesters, with the dissertation being completed April to August.

The LLM in International Economic Law will consist of compulsory and optional courses amounting to 120 credits in total, and a dissertation (60 credits). Students must take a minimum of 80 credits from the School of Law courses listed below; the remaining 40 credits may be taken either from the School of Law or from specified courses offered by the School of Social and Political Science and the School of Economics.

Courses offered by the School of Law

Compulsory Courses

WTO Law (40 credits) AND

International Investment Law (20 credits)

Optional 40 credit courses (taught over two semesters)

Fundamental Issues in International Law

The Law of International Trade

Regulation of International Finance: the Law, the Economics, the Politics

Optional 20 credit courses (taught over one semester)

Banking and Finance Law

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law

EU External Economic Relations

International Climate Change Law

International Commercial Arbitration

International Intellectual Property System

Principles of International Tax Law

Courses offered by other Schools (20 credits; taught over one semester)

Economics for Postgraduates (School of Economics)

International Political Economy (SSPS)

Politics and Theories of International Development (SSPS)

Other courses as approved from time to time

Dissertation

The dissertation is the point at which students progress from the structured study via taught courses to independent self-structured study under the guidance of academic staff. The dissertation is a maximum of 10,000 words. Students select the topic of the dissertation, but it must be about some aspect of international economic law. Students are expected to demonstrate ability to engage critically and analytically with precedents and literature in their field, building upon relevant concepts and theory covered in the taught element of the degree. Any student who meets the criteria for progression but who then does not pass the dissertation is eligible to receive the Diploma.

Promoting social responsibility, sustainability and equality and diversity

Social responsibility

This LLM programme seeks to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a complex, multilayered and in parts, fast-changing area of the law which is continuously interacting with issues of policy and public interest. By enabling and encouraging students to become critically aware and to develop autonomous views and arguments on these issues, through innovative techniques and a strong emphasis on reflection and critical analysis, this programme is capable of embedding the University’ core objective of increasing awareness of social responsibility questions in its specific area.

Sustainability and equality and diversity

This LLM programme seeks to deploy a variety of teaching techniques ranging from face-to-face seminar contact to one-to-one dissertation supervision to the utilisation of electronic and online library, communication and research resources.  The overarching goal is to ensure flexibility, autonomy and self-reliance in students’ learning while at the same time preserving and enhancing high teaching and learning standards: it is envisaged that this blended approach to teaching and learning will secure strong results in terms of the sustainability and good use of resources in the delivery of the programme; it will also ensure that a diverse student audience will be able to attain its learning outcomes by taking the utmost advantage of the teaching and learning opportunities offered.

Teaching and learning methods and strategies

All courses on the programme are taught in seminar discussion groups.  Class sizes range from 5-25 students and seminars generally last for two hours.  Students are expected to prepare for these seminars in advance by reading the materials prescribed in class hand-outs and by reflecting upon the issues which will be critically discussed in the seminar.  Seminars may include large group discussions, small group work exercises and group and/or individual presentations.  Interaction with course staff, course organisers and fellow students throughout seminars, in which active participation is a prerequisite, ensures that students get ongoing feedback on their contributions to the class and opportunities to reflect on their learning.  The programme also includes a supervised dissertation to which students progress after satisfactorily completing the taught courses.  All students are allocated an individual supervisor with relevant academic experience in their chosen area of study.  Supervision is designed to assist students in identifying and refining an appropriate academic research project, to support their programme of research activity, and to empower them to take lead responsibility for their research.  Students receive ongoing feedback and must reflect on their progress through their one to one supervision meetings. 

The University of Edinburgh library has one of the largest and most important collections in Britain. It has some two million items including the latest publications, key texts, and rare books. The Law School has its own library within Old College, well stocked in most important fields of law. The library of the Europa Institute, housed alongside the Law Library, is an outstanding European Documentation Centre. Within walking distance from the Law School is the National Library of Scotland which also possesses an important legal collection accessible to postgraduate students.

Postgraduate students have access to the extensive computing facilities provided by the Law School. The School maintains a number of computer labs, all of which are available for the exclusive use of postgraduate students. Wireless network access is available in many parts of the Law School including within the Law Library and Lecture Theatres. Postgraduate students have extensive access to online legal research facilities including electronic journals, LexisNexis and Westlaw. Additional computing facilities (including a laptop loan service for flexibility of learning) are available in the University's Main Library and via the University's Computing Services.

Assessment methods and strategies

There will be some variation amongst the courses as to the modes of assessment as differing courses in the LLM programme will test different competencies and aptitudes.  In full year courses (40 credits), assessment will normally be by two written essays with the first having a lesser weight. In the particular case of the compulsory WTO Law course, this will be complemented by an individual oral presentation in order to enable students to develop their own legal argumentation also orally and offer them an additional opportunity to improve their performance on the course.  One semester courses (20 credits) are assessed either by one essay that counts for 100% of the grade or by a combination of essay and another form of assessment (such as a take-home exercise, a presentation (both solo and group), an annotated bibliography, a poster, a response to a policy consultation, a moot, or an assessment completed in class).

The School provides targeted, timely and useful feedback to students on their performance in a number of ways:

• through direct comment by staff members in seminars;

• through supervision meetings on the dissertation;

• through written comments provided to students during the course of the academic session on formative assessment, such assessment designed to assist students in improving their essay and examination technique;

• through individual written feedback provided to students on summative coursework such as essays and the dissertation;

• through informal meetings that students can arrange with course organisers, or other members of the teaching team, where additional support or advice on how to improve their learning strategies and practice is required.

The School is always looking to improve the quality and helpfulness of its feedback to students, and takes seriously the comments on feedback provided anonymously in class questionnaires and via the annual Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey.

Student feedback and evaluation is a valued input to curriculum and programme review and development within the school and students are asked to complete evaluation forms on each course they take.  Student representatives are elected at the start of every year and represent the study body throughout the period of the programme of study.  As postgraduate students have access to the resources and facilities of the Institute of Academic Development at the University.  The Institute offers a range of workshops and training sessions including essential communication skills, information technology skills, time management, project management, decision-making and much more.

Career opportunities

The School is dedicated to ensuring all students are academically and socially prepared and are responsible and ethical citizens.  We offer training events and support for all our postgraduate students in both academic and key life skills.  The current employment market is a difficult and competitive one but we aim to ensure our students are independent thinkers with practical skills, giving them an advantage over their peers.

The Careers Service offers expert advice on careers options, searching for careers, CV writing and preparing for interviews.  This support can be tailored for students from the School of Law. 

The LLM in International Economic Law has been conceived as a gateway into a range of employment opportunities and specialised academic work, which may include:

• Legal practice
• Government legal service (at both national and EU levels)
• International civil servants
• Government advisors
• Legal advisors to non-governmental organisations and private companies
• Specialised researchers in academic and think-tank institutions
• Independent consultants

Other items

The School and its research centres actively organise frequent events including seminar and lecture series, conferences, research training, workshops and fairs.  We strongly encourage all our postgraduate students to attend these events as well as getting involved with their organisation.

The Edinburgh Student Law Review is the first of its kind in Scotland.  Managed and written entirely by the School’s student body, it aims to provide a forum for law students to engage in a more analytical approach to the study of law.  Students from all levels and legal disciplines are encouraged to submit articles, case notes and updates which are published in the Review each year.

The School of Law and Edinburgh University are committed to providing pastoral support for postgraduate students.  The Director of Postgraduate Studies, the Programme Director and postgraduate office staff act as points of first contact and can advise students on the extensive network of services that exist throughout the University.  Additional language training and support is available for international students through the English Language Training Centre at the University.  The International Office provides broader support and advice on living and studying in Edinburgh to this constituency of students. The Student Disability Service offers guidance and support for students experiencing difficulties or suffering from impairments covered by the Equality Act, and the Edinburgh University Students’ Association, run by and for students, offer a broad range of services to support students’ well-being at the University.  The University’s Accommodation Services can also help students finding appropriate accommodation in the city.