BA - LAW

1. Awarding Institution/Body
2. Teaching Institution
3. Teaching Site
4. Programme accredited by:
5. Final Award
6. Programme
7. Date of production/revision
8. Date of production/revision

1. Educational Aims of the Programme 

The programme aims:-

·        To attract and meet the needs of both those contemplating a career in the legal profession and those motivated primarily by acquiring linguistic skills to be used in other professional contexts.

·        To offer a range of modules covering the foundations of legal knowledge for access to legal and non-legal professions.

·        To provide a sound knowledge and systematic understanding of the principal institutions and procedures of Macedonian Law.

·        To provide a sound grounding in the major concepts and principles of Macedonian Law and its way of operating in the international context.

·        To offer the opportunity to be taught by renowned international visiting academic staff.

·        To develop a critical awareness of law in its comparative, historical, socio-economic and political contexts, and to introduce students to a range of different theoretical approaches to the study of law.

·        To offer students the opportunity to live and study abroad with student exchange programmes.

·        To offer a range of options to enable students to study some selected areas of law in depth.

·        To provide teaching which is informed by current research and scholarship and which requires students to engage in aspects of work at the frontiers of knowledge.

·        To enable students to manage their own learning and to carry out independent research, including research into areas of law they have not previously studied.

·        To develop general critical, analytical, functional, comparative and problem-solving skills which can be applied in a wide range of different legal and non-legal settings.

·        To provide opportunities for the development of personal, communication, research and other key skills appropriate for post-graduate employment both in the legal professions and other fields.

·        To emphasise multi-lingual teaching and promote inter-ethnic and inter-cultural dialogue.

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:

Knowledge and Understanding

Teaching/learning and assessment

methods and strategies used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated

A.  Knowledge and understanding of:

Teaching/learning.

1. The main features of the Macedonian legal system, including its institutions, procedures and sources of law.

The principal methods are:-

Lectures, both traditional and interactive (Socratic); legal problem classes; tutor-led seminars; directed reading; independent research for course assessments; feedback on course assessments.

Assessment

In the course program, the object of evaluation can be:

• presence at lectures;
• consultations;
• successful realized exercises;
• successful realized internship; 
• paper work;
• field work;
• performed or realized project;
• awards/praises obtained, etc.

2. The concepts, principles and rules of a substantial range of legal subjects, including an in-depth knowledge of commercial, civil, criminal, administrative and comparative law.

3. The principal features of the law of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and other Conventions on International Public and Private Law.

4. The English language (compulsory) plus French, German (optional) to a reasonably high level.

5. The relationship between law and the historical, linguistic, socio-economic and political contexts in which it operates.

6. A range of theoretical, comparative and critical perspectives which can be applied to the study of law.

B.  General Transferable Intellectual skills: On successful completion of the programme students should be able to:

Teaching/learning.

      Effectively apply knowledge to analyse complex issues using, where appropriate, the Albanian/Macedonian and English languages.

These skills are developed primarily through discussion and argument in seminars and legal problem classes, in the preparation for and participation in seminars, delivery of class presentations, and in the preparation and writing of course assessments including, where chosen, dissertations.

Comparative skills are developed in year 3 where students have to take two compulsory modules in Comparative Law.

Optional participation in moot programmes and other case study programmes (the University has a room where court proceedings are simulated) and student legal groups provide further opportunities to enhance these skills.

Assessment.

Written examinations, oral examinations and course assessments, assessed class presentations and, where chosen, dissertations and moot performances.

2.      Recognise and rank items and issues in terms of their relevance and importance.

      Collect and synthesise information from a variety of Albanian, Macedonian and International sources.

4.      Formulate and sustain a complex argument (in English and Albanian/Macedonian), supporting it with appropriate evidence.

5.      Recognise potential alternative solutions to particular problems and make a reasoned choice between them.

6.      Independently acquire knowledge and understanding in areas, both legal and non-legal, not previously studied.

7.      Demonstrate an independence of mind and an ability to critically challenge received understandings and conclusions.

8.      Reflect constructively on learning processes.

Application and problem solving.

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

a)       Recognise the legal issues arising in a factual situation of limited complexity in Macedonian and International law.

b)      Identify and apply the case and statute law relevant to it. 

c)       Provide an informed and reasoned opinion on the possible legal actions arising from it, and their likelihood of success.

Teaching /learning

Legal problem-solving skills are primarily developed through preparation for and participation in legal problem-based subjects mainly Legal Engineering, Interpretation of Law, Methodology of Law, larger problem/case classes and optional participation in the moot programme and in the work of the case study programme.

Students in seminars conducted in English by International staff become familiar with legal and educational methods adopted in Western European and American universities.

Assessment.

Legal problem questions in written examinations and course assessments including class tests and, where undertaken, assessed mooting performance.

Sources, research and evaluation.

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

a) Identify the legal and related issues which require research.

b) Effectively locate and use primary and secondary legal and other relevant sources.

c) Conduct independent legal research using a range of resources

d) Critically evaluate an area of law both doctrinally and in terms of its socio-economic and other consequences.

e) Function in both the English and Macedonian (or Albanian) languages.

Teaching/learning.

Legal research classes (mainly in subjects such as Methodology of Law, Interpretation of Law and Legal Engineering) and practical exercises. Preparation and feedback on course assessments.

Legal research developed to an advanced level in year 3 in the Comparative Law modules (compulsory).

Assessment.

All by course assessments and, where undertaken, dissertations. 

Communication and Literacy.

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

a)      Use, both orally and in writing, the Macedonian/Albanian and English languages in relation to legal matters with care, accuracy and effectiveness.

b)      Engage constructively and effectively in arguments and discussions of complex matters in Macedonian/Albanian and English.

c)      Give a clear and coherent presentation on a topic using appropriate supporting materials.

d)      Read complex legal and non-legal materials in the Macedonian/Albanian and English languages and summarise them accurately.

e)      Employ the correct Macedonian/Albanian and English legal terminology and correct methods of citation and referencing for legal and other academic materials.

f)        Produce work in appropriate formats.

Teaching /learning

Seminar contributions, class presentations and, where undertaken, mooting together with feedback on them; the preparation, writing and feedback on written course assessments including, where undertaken, dissertations. Linguistic fluency in Macedonian/Albanian to be achieved through Macedonian/Albanian classes both in general linguistic skills and legal terminology conducted in the first year.

Assessment.

Written course assessments, assessed class presentations and, where undertaken, assessed moot work. Written and oral examinations.

13.  Programme structures and requirements, levels, modules, credits and awards

The programme is offered on a full-time and a part-time basis, and students complete the programme in three years. Study in the programme is divided into a number of compulsory and optional courses. Courses carry credits which correspond approximately to 25–30 hours of "learning time". 60 credits should be gained each year for a total of about 1500–1800 hours per year. Further details on credits policies are contained in the University Catalogue.

Subjects are divided into semester units.

Students complete all courses according to a compulsory curriculum described below. Attendance is compulsory and is the basic requirement in order to complete a course. Each course must be completed by fulfilling the requirements provided in the subject syllabus.

At the end of semester VI, students submit a 15.000-20.000-word dissertation.