In accordance with its mission, the assessment committee presents in this report its opinion on the six subjects from the reference frame for accreditation and a global opinion, which will be the basis for the NVAO to accredit the study programme. In addition, the assessment committee makes recommendations for further improvement of the quality of the education delivered by the programme.
The Katholieke Universiteit Brussel (hereafter ‘K.U.Brussel’) offers the Advanced Master’s programme in Law ‘The Master of Legal Theory’, in cooperation with the Facultés universitaires Saint Louis (shortened to FUSL).
The idea for an international postgraduate programme in legal theory goes back to the 1980’s and is based on the consideration of a need for such a programme as there were no directly comparable alternatives within Europe at that time. The programme grew from Erasmus Seminars into a full one year Advanced Master’s programme in law.
The Master of Legal Theory is a bilingual Advanced Master’s programme, allowing students to take the majority of the courses in either the English or the French language, but nevertheless obliging them to take a substantive number of courses in the other language.
The assessment committee visited the Advanced Master’s programme at the K.U.Brussel. from 5th until 6th December, 2006.
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel Section 2The assessment committee has formed its judgement about the programme based on the self-evaluation report of the particular Advanced Master’s programme, the conversations and interviews with the co-ordinators, teaching staff, students and alumni of the programme, the people responsible for the study counselling and internal quality assurance, the documentation of the programme and its Board meetings, the additional information requested during the assessment site visit, the study and evaluation materials, and the Master’s theses. The assessment committee has visited the lecture rooms, PC accommodation and the library during the assessment site visit.
Subject 1: Objectives of the study programme
In the self-evaluation report the aims, objectives and the final qualifications of the Master of Legal Theory are described. These aims and objectives are summarised hereafter.
Master of Legal Theory (60 ECTS)
The self-evaluation report describes the aims and objectives of the Master of Legal Theory as follows:
The Maser of Legal Theory “seeks to offer a critical and interdisciplinary overview and as far as possible a synthesis of most of the main streams of philosophical and epistemological reflection and paradigms of thought that underpin the field of legal theory”.
The programme aims to:
- prepare students for independent and critical reflection upon the methodological and ethical foundation of law in light of current developments in terms of a European legal theory debate and the development of the institutions and policies of the European Union and the Council of Europe;
- present students with the general movements of contemporary scientific debate in the domain of law;
- equip young legal scholars with the methodological instruments that enable them to deal with the legal issues in the context of rapid change of European legal institutions and their impact on the national legal orders;
- acquaint young lawyers with the social, ethical and political background of law and with its basic principles and structures;
- develop, at an advanced level, the students´ ability to think autonomously and critically so that every individual will be able to reflect critically not only upon the presented materials but also upon his or her own research projects.
The major objectives of the programme are:
- to give the student a broad set of methodological instruments and tools;
- to inform the student of the possible limitations of different methods of analysis of law; - to provide students with a sufficient knowledge of various sub-disciplines and methodologies
such as formal and informal logic, sociology, anthropology, history, semiotics, and economics of law, fostering the development of the ability to take conscious decisions with respect to their further academic activities and to deal adequately with the complexity of law;
- to encourage public presentation and defence of the students’ ideas both orally and in writing;
- to prepare them to make judgments in a critical and uncertain context;
- to learn the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to law making, law application, legal interpretation and to legal practice in general;
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel Section 2Criterion 1.1. Level and Orientation of the objectives of the programme
The assessment committee evaluates the level and orientation of the objectives of the Master of Legal Theory as excellent.
The objectives of the Master of Legal Theory clearly aim to develop general competences and general academic-oriented competences at an advanced level, as well as to develop an advanced understanding of and insight into academic- disciplinary knowledge. The achievement of advanced understanding of and insight into the academic-disciplinary knowledge of the discipline is very clear in the aims and objectives. The newest developments are reflected into the programme and incorporated into the lectures, especially through by the experiences of practitioners and professionals who teach in the programme. The assessment committee finds that the aims and objectives of the programme are in agreement with the aims and objectives formulated by the assessment committee in its reference frame. There is excellent care and attention in the aims and objectives for the international dimension of the discipline through the student intake policy and the employment policy (for permanent, temporary and visiting staff), through the policy of bilingualism and the curriculum policy. There is good attention for how new theories are built, as there is for developing the ability to make an original contribution to the knowledge in one or more parts of the domain. A rich variety of active work forms is used to achieve a strong focus on the development of research and professional skills, and the development of collaborative work and communicative skills (both in speech and in writing). The programme strongly aims to give the graduates a good entry point to attain a high-profile position in the academic or non-academic professional world.
The students and staff are familiar with the aims and objectives of their study programme, through the various channels for communication (brochure, website) and the informal exchange of information e.g. through personal contacts with alumni and staff.
The K.U.Brussel is very much committed to the Advanced Master’s programme and nowadays there is a growing tendency of Belgian students to subscribe for Advanced Master’s programmes that can make a difference in their future professional career.
As regards the financial preconditions of the educational policy, the assessment committee observes that the tuition fee for the programme is very low (€ 1400 compared to € 5000 or even € 7500 at other institutions). The programme directors indicated during the interview that the students would be deterred from enrolling if the fees were increased substantially and therefore money is sought elsewhere to further support the programme.
Criterion 1.2. Domain-specific requirements
The assessment committee evaluates the domain-specific requirements of the Master of Legal Theory as excellent.
The domain-specific requirements of the Master of Legal Theory are clearly explained in the self-evaluation report and are of a high standard, compared to significant others (e.g. in the United States of America) which are mostly oriented towards social aspects of the discipline. There is a good alignment in the aims and objectives of the programme with professional requirements set by peer groups and the attention in the aims and objectives for the needs of the intended professional field is clear and consistent. The final qualifications are derived from the academic discipline, with respect to the international academic practice. Many of the visiting and resident staff are connected in one way or another to legal practice and the professional field. The programme directors have high quality informal contacts with the staff members and with the professional field. In addition the link with the professional field and the updating of the course materials with respect to current development is dealt with by the Board of the programme.
The Master of Legal Theory is rather exceptional in the world: few postgraduate programmes cover legal theory on such a wide scale, covering a very broad range of topics, disciplines and approaches. In its very nature, the programme is bilingual (through the good cooperation between the K.U.Brussel and the FUSL) and highly international (both with respect to the student population and the staff). All competitors (in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, North America and Australia) are either less internationally oriented (and address a local student population or resident staff) or focus on one particular domain in the field, or on more specifically social-scientific approaches.
With respect to further improvements of the programme, the assessment committee suggests considering an even more pronounced association with other prominent professors in the field in an attempt to associate them with the programme as well. In addition, the assessment committee suggests a more appealing promotion of the programme, e.g. by providing a newsletter more widely distributed to further publicise the existence of the programme in the field, its bilingual nature, and its very wide scope, and its favourable location of both universities (K.U.Brussel and FUSL) in the vicinity of the European Institutions.
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel Section 2General conclusion related to subject 1:
Objectives of the study programme
Since the level and orientation and the domain-specific requirements of the programme are both scored as ‘excellent’, the assessment committee evaluates ‘the objectives of the Master of Legal Theory programme’ positively.
Subject 2: Curriculum
Master of Legal Theory
The Master of Legal Theory comprises three trimesters: two are reserved for teaching and the third is reserved for the Master’s thesis. In September, preparatory courses in the French and the English language and an introductory course in legal theory are offered. In early October a course in philosophy is scheduled.
The Master of Legal Theory programme comprises:
- general courses (18 study credits = ECTS-credits) (1 compulsory course: ‘Jurisprudence’; choice of 2 out of 3: ‘Moral and Political Philosophy’; ‘Theory of Comparative Law and of European Legal Integration’; ‘History of Jurisprudence’)
- optional courses and seminars (i.e. specialist courses) with a short papers for each course (21 ECTS-credits) (choice of 7 out of 10: ‘Sociology of Law’, ‘Formal Logic and Law’, ‘Legal Argumentation’, ‘European Legal History’, ‘Foundations of European Legal Culture’, ‘Legal Semiotics’, ‘Economic Analysis of Law’, ‘Legal Anthropology’, ‘Theory of Penal law and Criminology’, ‘Theory of the State’).
- the Master’s thesis (21 ECTS-credits).
Different educational paths are possible through the combination of different courses, resulting in a larger emphasis on either ‘pure theory’ or ‘more applied theory’.
Criterion 2.1. Relationship between aims and objectives and contents of the curriculum
The assessment committee evaluates the relationship between the aims and objectives and the contents of the curriculum of the Master of Legal Theory as excellent.
The Master of Legal Theory translates the objectives and final qualifications into clear learning targets for each course, both with respect to the level and orientation and with respect to the domain-specific requirements and in the programme as a whole. The subjects studied introduce students to a broad spectrum of domain- specific knowledge. The multidisciplinary nature of the programme gives students good opportunities to obtain the final qualifications. The learning targets are
arranged into 5 clearly defined levels (introductory courses, general courses, highly specialised optional courses, seminars and the Master’s thesis) that lead to high quality educational training. The seminars are particularly useful to bring current evolvements and newly related fields in to the programme (e.g. law and religion, law and economics, sociology of law). The programme offers students a good preparation to enter the professional field.
The assessment committee is of the opinion that the programme covers a very broad range of legal theory related issues, covering the whole meta-legal theory perspective. The courses in the programme are at a high level, consistent with an Advanced Master’s curriculum. The programme prepares students for a wide range of occupations within the field of study: they are taught the competences and skills required for independent application of general and domain-specific knowledge in new contexts. The alumni commented during the interviews that they indeed apply the competences and skills in their every day professional life.
The assessment committee finds that there is a rather strong orientation in the programme towards legal philosophy and suggests considering whether the inclusion of more topics in the field of socio-legal theory (e.g. drawn from legal anthropology, sociology of law, or law and social theory) could be an additional asset to the programme. The programme directors indicated that there are other programmes dealing with a more economic analysis of law and therefore the Master of Legal Theory is not likely to include this into the regular curriculum. Nevertheless, the assessment committee is of the opinion that social theories of law could be integrated into the programme as an additional optional course that can be chosen by the students if they want to further their knowledge in that field.
The programme employs adequate mechanisms (some more informal than others) to respond to changes in the field and to adapt the curriculum when necessary. Nevertheless, the assessment committee suggests a further structuring and formalising of these methods, a suggestion which is in line with the current efforts made by the programme to schedule programme and curriculum discussions and revisions in the margin of international conferences.
In addition, some students remarked that choosing a course given at another institution (at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or at the Universiteit Gent) is not always feasible in the programme, as the time schedules might overlap. The programme directors indicated that if at least 5 students select a particular course, organised at another (than FUSL) institution, the time schedule is adapted to accommodate this choice.
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel Section 2The assessment committee particularly appreciates the bilingual approach of the programme, allowing students to take the majority of the courses in either the English or the French language, but nevertheless obliging them to take a substantive number of courses in the other language. Taking into account that for many students the English and French language are their second and third language (next to their mother tongue), the lack of problems occurring related to language is an indication of the high level of the students entering the programme. Students are allowed to take the exams in either the English or the French language, according to their preference.
Criterion 2.2. Requirements with regard to the professional and academic orientation of the programme
The assessment committee evaluates the requirements with regard to the professional and academic orientation of the Master of Legal Theory as excellent.
After study of the self-evaluation report and through the discussions with the staff, the assessment committee concludes that the Master of Legal Theory well emphasises knowledge development and the development of research skills and competences. The programme has in its profile a distinct orientation towards the development of academic professionals, but in reality, there is a balance between the number of students following the programme to prepare for a Ph.D. and those who enter legal practice afterwards. The programme offers a broad range of advanced courses in the field, guaranteeing the advancement in knowledge and insight into the discipline. Students write seven papers, prior to writing the Master’s thesis; this guarantees the development of their analytical skills and writing skills. Particularly the seminars prepare students to take part in scientific discourse. The knowledge advancement in the programme is further supported by the professionalism of both the resident and the visiting staff who most often are also active in the (non-academic) professional field.
Criterion 2.3. Coherence of the programme
The assessment committee evaluates the coherence of the Master of Legal Theory as good.
The coherence within the Master of Legal Theory programme is strong as all courses (the general courses, the specialised courses and the seminars) contribute to the study of legal theory in all its aspects. There is a good balance between basic courses and more advanced courses, as there is between legal concepts and their practical application. In addition, students can opt for a particular educational path which focuses on some strongly related issues and consequently has an ample coherence as well. The horizontal coherence is emphasised in the general courses
that establish a thorough analysis of the basic concepts. The vertical coherence is materialised by the 5 clearly defined levels (introductory courses, general courses, highly specialised optional courses, seminars and the Master’s thesis).
With respect to flexible learning paths, the programme allows students to spread the programme over two or more years as opposed to the normal one year, providing several modes and ample flexibility in the programme. In addition, since 1999, a Summer Course in Legal Theory is organised for students who are interested in the subject but do not intend to follow the entire programme.
Criterion 2.4. Duration of the programme
The Master of Legal Theory consists of 60 study credits (ECTS-credits). The assessment committee evaluates the duration of the Master of Legal Theory as being in line with the formal regulations described in the Decree on the Restructuring of Flemish Higher Education.
Criterion 2.5. Study load of the programme
The assessment committee evaluates the study load of the Master of Legal Theory as satisfactory.
The programme does not have a mechanism to systematically measure the study time and follow up on the match between the estimated and the actual study time. The assessment committee urges the adaptation of such a mechanism, because the information referred to in the self-evaluation report (student and alumni questionnaires) only registers the students’ perception about the study load. As the results of such questionnaires strongly depend on the actual wording in the questions and the questionnaires are by no means an objective measurement device for the actual study time, the assessment committee stresses that the study time must be monitored in order to detect, improve and follow up on the students’ workload and the balance in the programme. Some students reported during the interviews that in order to address the substantial workload, some issues could be shifted from seminars towards optional courses, but that there is a certain equilibrium in the programme and that the faculty indeed check the spreading of the workload (e.g. with respect to the handing in of the seven papers). In addition the workload perceived by the individual student depends on language skills. Students are also guided and helped at the start of the programme to select a balanced programme.
Some study load related questions have been included in the yearly evaluation of the programme. Apparent differences have been registered between the estimated and the actual study time. The programme has responded to this by introducing