While some students and staff in our Faculty know that our Public International Law LLM (PIL) is Top 10 world-wide for its field, those that have only joined in the past few years may not know that the programme began its journey to global recognition first as a top-rated programme in the Netherlands.

From 2016 to 2019, Groningen held a "Top Rated" status for "International Law", awarded by the Keuzegids Higher Education Guide. The ranking in international law refered jointly to the Faculty of Law’s English language LLM degree programmes in International and Human Rights Law, and Public International Law. The Keuzegids guide includes descriptions of all higher education master’s programmes officially registered in the Netherlands, and a quality assessment is given for most of these programmes reflecting student evaluations. Only programmes with 75 points or higher were given "Top Rated" designation.

In its 2019 review, the guide refered to Groningen as a real winner in these programmes and that students have a lot of admiration for their teachers and the facilities of the Faculty. This admiration no doubt comes from the fact that students learn from dedicated lecturers in the Department of Transboundary Legal Studies, who are keen to help students hone their legal skills and prowess, for example through coaching them in Moot Court teams. Some of the most recent competitions include the Rene Cassin Moot Court Competition and the Telders International Moot Court Competition, with graduates of the PIL programme giving distinguishing performances in some past moots.

Another unique aspect of the PIL programme that students enjoy, and benefited from, was that it was the first of our LLM programmes to offer a Law in Practice module, which revolved around international law projects assigned to our students by different entities/organisations that work in the field. The idea for the course was so successful, it has since been made a compulsory module within all of our LLM programmes.

Keuzegids stopped issuing "Top Rated" designations to masters level programmes after 2019, albeit still continuing to review masters programmes in the country. Coincidentally though, in 2018, the quality of the programme caught the attention of LLM-Guide.com, which acknowledged the programme in its Top 10 world-wide list for Public International Law. The quality of the LLM has maintained over the years with continously positive student feedback, and the programme consistenly being listed Top 10 in each following year, all the way up to today.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interested in more information about our international programmes? You can ask questions directly to the Faculty by filling out our information request form.