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LLM in Human Rights | Cross Border

Provided jointly by
School of Law, Queen's University Belfast and
Faculty of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway

Introduction
The School of Law, Queen's University Belfast and the Faculty of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway have established two exciting new Masters programmes. These LL.M degree programmes, the first such law programmes in Ireland, will entail students attending classes for the first semester in Belfast (September to January), the second semester in Galway (January to June), and spending a summer in either location completing their dissertation.

Activities
A number of activites are organised for postgrad Human Rights Students, see further details of Activities for LLM Human Rights Students .

Prize for the best LLM Dissertation
The Human Rights Centre is pleased to announce that the NI Human Rights Commission has agreed to provide a prize for the best LLM dissertation on a Human Rights topic. The prize will be 500 pounds, and will be presented to the recipient at a public ceremony hosted by the Commission. The recipient will be asked to make a short presentation on the dissertation at the prize giving ceremony. The successful dissertation will subsequently be published on the NIHRC website. (Any LLM student who is a staff member of the Commission or a Commissioner is ineligible for this prize.)

Background

Queen's
Law has been studied and taught at Queen's since 1845. As well as a range of undergraduate programmes, Queen's Law School already provides a range of postgraduate courses in Human Rights, Criminology and Computers and Law. With the Law School, human rights teaching and research has been carried out under the auspices of the Centre for Human Rights  since 1990. Within the field of criminology and criminal justice, teaching and research is carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice , established in 1995.

Galway
The Galway Law Faculty has also been involved in teaching and research of law since the mid-nineteenth century. The Faculty provides a number of undergraduate programmes. In addition, since the Faculty provides a post graduate LLM in International Human Rights Law. Teaching and Research in Human Rights Law is carried out under the auspices of the Irish Centre of Human Rights within the Faculty established in 1999. 

Graduate Comments
"Studying for an LLM Human Rights Law / Cross Border provided me with unexpected career opportunities. I had always been interested in human rights campaigning and activism, but studying human rights law provided me with intellectual and professional skills which were necessary to pick up interesting jobs. Queen’s university was a great place to study; the facilities, lecturers, internship opportunities, general learning environment, financial and academic support were excellent. I have recommended the course to several colleagues and friends."    Louise Dear, Scotland

Course Organisation
Students will be required to spend the first semester in Belfast , the second semester in Galway and a summer in either location completing a dissertation. Students will be required to complete a combination of compulsory and elective modules as well as their dissertation worth a total of 180 credits in order to complete the degree/s. Please note that a student accepted on to the Cross Border programme is expected to move to Galway in January; students will not be allowed to transfer to a QUB only LLM programme absent extraordinary circumstances.

Semester One (Belfast)
Students are required to take the compulsory module in Human Rights Law (30 credits) and choose one of the following:

  • Equality Law (30 credits)
  • Nature of Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict

For further information on module content please see the course handbook.


Semester Two (Galway)
Students must choose modules to the value of 60 credits (30 ECTS) from the choices offered by the Irish Centre for Human Rights

Summer
Twenty thousand word dissertation to be written at either institution (60 credits, 30 ECTS)

Assessment
All modules are primarily assessed by way of an essay. Dissertations are 20,000 words.

Entrance Requirements
Applicants should normally have a primary degree (2.1 or 1st class or equivalent) in Law or a cognate discipline from the Social Sciences or Humanities.  Exemption from these requirements may be given to those with significant, relevant, practical experience or those with a postgraduate qualification at Masters level or higher. 

As part of the selection process interviews may be held to ensure suitability.

Visa requirements
If you are an EU citizen, there are no visa requirements when entering either the Republic of Ireland or the UK. However, if you are from a country outside the EU, you may require separate visas to enter both the UK and Republic of Ireland. Further details are available from the International Offices at the National University of Ireland Galway, and Queen's University Belfast.

Closing Date for Applications 
Applications will be accepted up to end August 2010.  After this date, please contact the School Postgraduate Secretary (pglawenquiries@qub.ac.uk)  

Contact Addresses
For further information please contact:

 Queen's University Belfast:

National University of Ireland, Galway: 

Postgraduate Secretary
School of Law
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN

Tel: (44) 028 9097 3842 (44) 028 9097 3842
Fax: (44) 028 9097 3376
Email: pglawenquiries@qub.ac.uk


Irish Centre for Human Rights
National University of Ireland
Galway
Ireland

Tel:  (00353) 91 750464  (00353) 91 750464   (00353) 91 750464  (00353) 91 750464    (00353) 91 750464  (00353) 91 750464   (00353) 91 750464  (00353) 91 750464
Fax: (00353) 91 750575
Email: humanrights@nuigalway.ie

www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/

 Queen's Links:

See Admissions Office for details of :

Application Procedure
Details of Postgraduate Fees

Scholarships