First of all, if you are on this Website and looking for a program which suits your future goals; best of luck and stay strong. It is a tough journey.



Before enrolling to this program, I came by this Website and didn't notice any detailed informations basedon alumni's experiences. If I have known something my decision would not be affected much maybe since I was not at that time competent to demonstrate German LLM at any other university. Nonetheless I drop my observations below in case someone is interested in:

-Firstly, I should start by saying that I am not satisfied with what the program offered/promised with my expectations. The Institut is founded by the initiatives of France and Germany for the purpose of EU law studies and spreading the core values of collaboration. Therefore they are supported by some organizations such as DAAD, EU, German Ministry of Education etc. Compared to Saarland University's facilities, I can say that it is rather prosperous in terms of economical sources. However, in terms of library and the events they offer and/or scholarship and other facilities it does not pay off back. Many of the books required for student's studies do not exist.

-The so-called modules are based on 1 compulsory and 5 elective ones amongst which students are obliged to choose 2 of them. The schedule offered is quite time consuming and do not serve to the purpose of LLM. The instructors are mainly from the practise and they come from all over the world. Therefore they come only for 2-3 days sometimes they don't because of 'unexpected events' etc and apart from your experience from the bachelor of business, all the classes start with the basic knowledge. You can imagine in 2-3 days how much you can learn or what else you don't learn for your future work.

-The abovementioned fact is, in my opinion is mainly based on program's directors strategy.The more student we have, the more we earn. Therefore, one can apply to the LLM (Master of Laws) whether one has graduated from law, sociology, management or whatsoever. As long as you can pay to the program I hardly doubt you will be rejected. For this reason, students' level of perception, background and purpose of being at the program vary. As a result, while some of the participants have a well-established knowledge in the field, some of the others are in the mood of fun and or other purpose. What I am trying to say is that if you are looking for a specialization I would not recommend you the Institute.

-About the administrative's behaviours: During my year,one of the main thema we have struggled with was that administrative's unforeseeable behaviours. As a lack of loyalty on the program, the staff are lack of experience and randomly hired for the job. From after sometime, we have noticed that they do ot respond the e-mails and/or avoid satisfying the duties expected from the administrative. If you are too motivated to study at this program, you should be prepared to last-minute calls notifications for many time. Considering the whole-day consuming classes where students start at 8-9 am 'til 7-8 in the evening, you may start frustrating to such irresponsibilities. Therefore after sending e-mail you should follow your task in person by talking with them face to face and/or you should all the time double check what the instructors are said in the class and what the administrative order. There is all the time 'misunderstanding' while the instructor says you can have your book/legislations during the exam and what the administrative say. In addition, the rules offered only apply to the students. Meaning that administrative consider itself outside of the scope of obeying the mandatory rules. Whie you are obliged to present at the exam at the certain time - they will come most of the time late and the exam starts lately. Also, beware the fact that your personal datas may be in dange - I have heard several of times that personal datas are being a subject to gossip of which are supposed to be kept confidential. Therefore upon your application and/or during the program - consider that your friendships, private life status, health concerns 'shall' any time be a subject. If you ask why nobody intereferes to the wrong-doing circle on the program, I would answer that lack of loyalty and that the chiefs of the program are doing the same. Therefore almost all the staff know each others faults and avoid saying anything which I find miserable for the Institute. Because as I mentioned above the foundation of the Program was not obviously it to evolve into such misery.

-I should also say something about the 2 permanent professors of the Program. Marc Bungenberg and Thomas Giegerich have their own chairs at the program. Prof.Bungenberg is mainly responsible for the trade and investment law. He is mainly in touch with his students and offer opportunities if you are good on your studies and work. I forgot to mention how the instructors are rectruited, from my observations it is mainly linked to relation-based web with the administrative and Bungenberg and Giegerich. Sometimes it is very good that you can see some intsructors, professors and or attorneys and make connections with, sometimes it is bad as such you would re-consider how come a person offers this cours whom has less knowledge and experience than me. Anyways, if you are interested in the field of trade and investment, do not hesitate to work hard and to take Bungenberg's classes. What I think about Bungenberg, I assess the opposite for Giegerich. Sorry Prof. but I still wonder how you end up holding Jean-Monnet Chair. Human rights is quite international field which requires interdisciplinary work with such approaches. But it seems you have your 'own' perception.

-The city is located closeby to Luxembourg and Strasbourg where the 2 special Eruoepan Courts , Court of Justice of EU and European Court. You can visit France Netherlands Belgium easily. And compared to other German cities the accomodation and daily life expenses are rather cheap. But keep in mind also the opportunites are at the lowest.



Overall; if you are foreigner and looking for a better place then I would not recommend you to apply here. Either take a look at Dresden IP LLM, Bucerius LLM or Hannover LLM programs where you can pursue LLM in English. If you are German better study for Staatsexamen or do sth in UK. If you are foreigner with German knowledge then take a look at prominent German university's Master programs. Both Universitat des Saarlandes and Europa Institut is not a place I would recommend my colleagues whom has serious master and vocational purposes.

[Edited by Admin on Jun 09, 2020]

Thank you for your comment! It is always nice to know about a first hand experience over a programme, which was my main intention to join this platform.One thing I'd like to add to indicate the professionalism of the administrative staff: Last year I applied for the programme on February. None of my mails were replied and on October I got an email over rejection. I already started my master in another programme by then, quite funny isn't it? Glad that it wasn't my first choice anyway. 

Hello reader,

I am a student at the Europainstitut and I want to comment on this review of its LL.M programme. Unfortunately, the text above contains many unfounded theories, which I cannot confirm at all. Therefore, I want to point out some of the aspects addressed in the text and try to give a more realistic picture to interested students

In my opinion, the Europainstitut has a good and complete library. As in every library, you do not find all books (as there are too many in this world), but if a relevant book is missing, you can propose to purchase the book. Your request is often accepted and even if it is not possible to buy a certain book, you can borrow it from another university through a special programme designed for that purpose. You have space to study at three different libraries and you get a tour in all three of them at the beginning of the programme.

The programme offers many events during the year: guest lectures, trips to different cities (Brussels, Straßbourg, Luxembourg, Berlin, New York, etc.), Moot Courts, Eurosim, Alumni meetings, etc. I would even say that it offers so much that it is impossible to do it all. Some of these events are financed by the Institute and others are co-financed. It is true that it is a demanding and time-intensive programme, which I personally very much appreciate. I came here to study and learn! If you are looking for an easy programme and lots of free time, then the Europainstitut is probably not the best place for you.

There are different Modules with many courses from which you choose those that fit best your personal interests. Most of the professors are very competent, even though there are of course always some that you enjoy more than others. Personally, I am very satisfied with the quality of the programme and the professors. It is also not true that most of the professors are practitioners. Some of them work as attorneys or at EU institutions and others are permanent professors at universities or research facilities. You can find the profiles of the professors on the webpage of the Institut

Of course, the organization does not always work 100 % and it is true that there have been some organizational problems this year. But it is definitely not as bad as described in the text above. Indeed, many of the organizational problems are openly discussed at the moment and improvements will probably soon be integrated into the programme.

Some other comments made in the text are in my opinion completely unfounded, so I cannot say much about them. There is absolutely no misuse of your personal data. To the contrary, Germany has quite a high standard of data protection which is respected at the Institute.

Overall, most of my colleagues and me had a great year here in Saarbrücken despite the Corona Crisis. We could finish the LL.M programme online to the best extent possible under the current circumstances. This is actually my second master and definitely the better of the two. Even though some organizational aspects should (and hopefully will) be improved soon, the LL.M offers a high-quality programme with many job opportunities. If you have any concrete questions about it, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

[Edited by readandrelax on Jul 22, 2020]

Hello everyone, 

I am a student of the Europa-Institut and after reading the review above, I felt I need to give my honest opinion about the program. Actually, I do not agree with any of the points addressed in the comment, because most of the criticism is not true. 

It is true that the program is quite intense, but I guess this is usual for one-year master’s studies. In the beginning there are a lot of classes and it is a challenge, but this is because not every student is familiar with how the European and International law functions. In my opinion, this is a good aspect, because you put a lot of effort to have a better understanding on the topics. You do not need to spend extra time to get familiar with the basic concepts, since this is part of the curriculum. 

However, every student has the opportunity to plan the studies accordingly. You can prefer to spread the subjects in the Winter and Summer semester or to be done by the Winter term (most of the students managed to do so). It is totally up to you to decide if you do not want to be under a lot of pressure in the beginning, although to some extent this cannot be avoided not only at Europa-Institut but everywhere. It is an LLM so it is expected that students are prepared to work hard. 

Another benefit is that you can enjoy the opportunity to choose from a wide range of subjects in different fields of law. The Professors come from all over the world, which in my view is very beneficial, because they are very competent and have an impressive career on the topic they are teaching. It is not the case that a professor will be responsible for 2 or more subjects not completely relate with each other, as it has occurred to me in my previous experiences. Therefore, I really appreciate that at Europa-Institut the lecturers are chosen according to their field of specialization. 

This year, was of course a challenging one with the Covid-19 pandemic, but that did not stop the students from completing the study program. The students were offered proper assistance in real time and the situation was handled very well from the program administrators. 

I mostly appreciate the objectivity and transparency in this program. Particularly, the criticism on the data misuse for me has no grounds. Usually, if such a serious conduct would have taken place, it would have been addressed and solved immediately, cause Every complaint is taken seriously from the program administrators.

Overall, the quality of the program is very good and compared with the costs it is highly recommended. As in any program, there is room for improvement, but what distinguishes this program is that the students’ feedback is taken into consideration, not just heard without bringing any change, something I have not encountered in other programs I have attended and I much appreciate. 

Hello,

If you are foreigner with German knowledge then take a look at prominent German university's Master programs.