It is a lengthy post in order for future applicants to study the information and avoid making the same error that my classmates and I did.

The LLM (LIPIT) programme at Göttingen University is a waste of time and money. Accept the invitation to attend this programme if you have not been accepted anywhere else and you need a European VISA. This program could help you gain a student visa to Germany. The teaching quality is low, and the management is chaotic.

Why did I say that? The following are the reasons:
The primary issue is that it took me two years to receive a thesis evaluation. And it's not only me who has been waiting for two years; many other graduates have as well.

Because there is no full-time personnel in the administration office (except one woman who assists students with registration tools), students must wait for an answer or do not receive one at all. The program director and academic coordinator were never available to discuss the issues and were not interested in student’s feedback. There is a PhD student working part-time for LLM program.

The programme provides lectures in intense summer or winter school fashion classes.
3 days: 12 classes for one-course courses from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. The course is completed in three days, and you should be ready for the exam in a week. Because sessions for other courses are in process, there are no free days to study for the exam. Fortunately, the weekend is free. Every week, there are 40 hours of lectures. There is no time for selfstudy or case reading before class.

90% of the other courses take the same approach.
Why so?
Because the programme lacks its own lecturers, these course teachers are drawn from law firms and other universities, and they have limited time. We were astonished to see that a few instructors had not updated their slides in the previous four years.

Exam results are not released for another 8-12 weeks. Reminders must be sent to the administration office by students. We never received specific feedback on why we scored poorly or where we could improve. The retake exam results will not be available for another 8 months. Because of poor administrative policies, passing this programme in one year is a significant challenge. The programme does not represent Germany's well-known efficiency and timeliness.

There are only three full-time lecturers from the University of Göttingen on the programme.
One created this programme and taught Unfair Competition. His presentations are translated from his German classes, and the English quality in those translations makes you wonder if a student assistant is familiar with AI translation technologies. Because one of his PhD students is from Poland, the professor draws heavily on Polish court cases.

Another full-time professor teaches the fundamentals of information technology over the course of three days. He needs to refresh his 4-year-old slides and his technological understanding.

The last full-time professor, teaches international intellectual property law and will spend the entire day in a pointless discussion. He never responds to emails.

Not to mention the academic coordinator, who teaches EU law. Fewer lectures on EU legislation, but more on wider European issues.

The remaining teachers are from law firms and other universities. You may believe that having corporate speakers is beneficial, but in actuality, it is detrimental to students. These busy professionals are difficult to reach. Because these lecturers come from businesses and prioritise their work, the schedule can be adjusted at the last minute. You will be unable to collaborate with them on any research or Ph.D. projects.

Syllabi for many courses consist of outdated cases.

A course may have more than two lecturers, and certain courses may have more than five lecturers. That implies students give a 3-hour exam with questions from five different lecturers who do not talk with each other or met, and it is possible that one component from a professor requires more time in exam. This can lead to exam failure.

Many classes repeat IP, patent, and copyright themes, and there is a lot of content overlap in many IP classes. This programme focuses on intellectual property rather than information technology. The use of the term IT in the title of a programme or course does not imply that it is IT-focused.
The programme prioritises quantity above quality, and the primary emphasis is on grades rather than learning. Unnecessary courses are included in the schedule, and you'll question why you paid 7K+ euros for them.

There are no extracurricular personal development activities or conference invites.

Working experience and an English test (IELTS, for example) are listed as programme requirements. Half of the students in the class were fresh bachelor's students, and a handful couldn't speak good English.

There is no career service, no assistance with job search, or resume builder, etc. You will be on your own for job search in Germany. Most of my classmates found a job in field of data protection and the credit goes to their past experiences + IAPP certification. You will be hired in Germany because of your previous experience, data security CIPP certifications, and self-study, not because you have an LLM from Göttingen.

I would not recommend this programme to anyone.

Hi IPexpert,

Thank you very much for your detailed review. I have been accepted to TU Dresden and I have also applied to MIPLC. I understand that MIPLC is the best programme for IP in Germany (and it is also very expensive). Is TU Dresden worth considering?


TIA!


P.S. - I am open to pursuing an LLM in ADR/ Energy/ Regulation and I saw that HU Berlin/ TU Berlin and FU Berlin offer these programs. Are they worth applying to? I see that their overall rank is higher than Dresden/ Gottingen.

It is a lengthy post in order for future applicants to study the information and avoid making the same error that my classmates and I did.



The LLM (LIPIT) programme at Göttingen University is a waste of time and money. Accept the invitation to attend this programme if you have not been accepted anywhere else and you need a European VISA. This program could help you gain a student visa to Germany. The teaching quality is low, and the management is chaotic.



Why did I say that? The following are the reasons:

The primary issue is that it took me two years to receive a thesis evaluation. And it's not only me who has been waiting for two years; many other graduates have as well.



Because there is no full-time personnel in the administration office (except one woman who assists students with registration tools), students must wait for an answer or do not receive one at all. The program director and academic coordinator were never available to discuss the issues and were not interested in student’s feedback. There is a PhD student working part-time for LLM program.



The programme provides lectures in intense summer or winter school fashion classes.

3 days: 12 classes for one-course courses from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. The course is completed in three days, and you should be ready for the exam in a week. Because sessions for other courses are in process, there are no free days to study for the exam. Fortunately, the weekend is free. Every week, there are 40 hours of lectures. There is no time for selfstudy or case reading before class.



90% of the other courses take the same approach.

Why so?

Because the programme lacks its own lecturers, these course teachers are drawn from law firms and other universities, and they have limited time. We were astonished to see that a few instructors had not updated their slides in the previous four years.



Exam results are not released for another 8-12 weeks. Reminders must be sent to the administration office by students. We never received specific feedback on why we scored poorly or where we could improve. The retake exam results will not be available for another 8 months. Because of poor administrative policies, passing this programme in one year is a significant challenge. The programme does not represent Germany's well-known efficiency and timeliness.



There are only three full-time lecturers from the University of Göttingen on the programme.

One created this programme and taught Unfair Competition. His presentations are translated from his German classes, and the English quality in those translations makes you wonder if a student assistant is familiar with AI translation technologies. Because one of his PhD students is from Poland, the professor draws heavily on Polish court cases.



Another full-time professor teaches the fundamentals of information technology over the course of three days. He needs to refresh his 4-year-old slides and his technological understanding.



The last full-time professor, teaches international intellectual property law and will spend the entire day in a pointless discussion. He never responds to emails.



Not to mention the academic coordinator, who teaches EU law. Fewer lectures on EU legislation, but more on wider European issues.



The remaining teachers are from law firms and other universities. You may believe that having corporate speakers is beneficial, but in actuality, it is detrimental to students. These busy professionals are difficult to reach. Because these lecturers come from businesses and prioritise their work, the schedule can be adjusted at the last minute. You will be unable to collaborate with them on any research or Ph.D. projects.



Syllabi for many courses consist of outdated cases.



A course may have more than two lecturers, and certain courses may have more than five lecturers. That implies students give a 3-hour exam with questions from five different lecturers who do not talk with each other or met, and it is possible that one component from a professor requires more time in exam. This can lead to exam failure.



Many classes repeat IP, patent, and copyright themes, and there is a lot of content overlap in many IP classes. This programme focuses on intellectual property rather than information technology. The use of the term IT in the title of a programme or course does not imply that it is IT-focused.

The programme prioritises quantity above quality, and the primary emphasis is on grades rather than learning. Unnecessary courses are included in the schedule, and you'll question why you paid 7K+ euros for them.



There are no extracurricular personal development activities or conference invites.



Working experience and an English test (IELTS, for example) are listed as programme requirements. Half of the students in the class were fresh bachelor's students, and a handful couldn't speak good English.



There is no career service, no assistance with job search, or resume builder, etc. You will be on your own for job search in Germany. Most of my classmates found a job in field of data protection and the credit goes to their past experiences + IAPP certification. You will be hired in Germany because of your previous experience, data security CIPP certifications, and self-study, not because you have an LLM from Göttingen.



I would not recommend this programme to anyone.

[Edited by ColdAqua on Dec 06, 2023]

As an alumni of this program, I cannot disagree to most of the points here with respect to classes being held from 9-5pm and the subject will be wrapped up in 3 days or the quality of slides. 
 I would also like to point few things
1. Lectures from law firms and companies are pretty helpful in sense, you get to have practical exposure.
2. We had mock moots, discussions and quizzes to help us explore the subject outside the textbooks. 
3. Flip side is I would appreciate if we have more classes and time to network with professors. 
4. It’ll be great if we have better graduation ceremonies because ours was just a small party without any graduation capes or even photographs. 
5. Our classmates were very competitive and are from different countries , leading to more healthy discussion with different perspectives.
6. It’s still better than wurzberg llm. 
7. I hope the management calls in more qualified professors.
8. Way too many guest lectures which is a pro and con. 
9. Thesis evaluation depends on who is your supervisor. 
10. Grading is German standard in sense, they are too strict about giving scores. 
11. You can do work student job and get industrial experience on subject simultaneously to attending classes. Since they made it hybrid, you can choose to do internship alongside. 

[Edited by DPisScary on Jan 09, 2024]

Thank you for your feedback. It’s insightful.

wow! didn't knowil it was this bad in Germany