I there folks,
I have done a lot of research but would like info from people who may have done courses in the different colleges to give me some insider information.
I am applying to UCL and Cambridge to do an International public law and human rights themed masters. I know Cambridge is meant to be the best but in all honested in what i want to do, UCL seems to be the more cutting edge law school and have wider vairites of international human rights subjects. If i got in to Cambridge I don't even know if i would pick it over UCL.
Secondly for people looking to get into internship programs in the international institutions like the ICJ or the EU commissions Leiden and Amsterdam have really good internship programs which get you directly into NGO's, the ICJ etc because its nearer the Hague/ the hub of international law. The human rights courses seem just as broad and interesting and perhaps with better lecturers.
I really want to get an internship in one of the place advertised by Leiden. Should you go for the prestige even if you know the course is better somewhere else?

The thing about the Cambridge programme is that it is more like another year of undergrad study at a higher level than a focus on a subject of interest, and so they offer a not too extensive list of modules which people can mix and match as they want. Because of this, it is really more suited to the international students who want to have some experience of UK education or someone who doesn't want to focus on one specialism but maybe wants to mix disparate subjects; like legal history and intellectual property, say. As neither of these descriptions fit you, it would probably be wise to pick a more specialist programme and I wouldn't worry at all about the loss of the Cambridge name. At the end of the day, you are still looking at excellent universities and the experience of being near the Hague or in a more specialist HR environment will serve you better in the long run than taking one or two relevant modules at Cambridge.

Notably, I think Oxford offer an Human Rights LLM or MA now. I don't erally know much about it but it may be worth a look!

yeah i saw that and it looks good but the absolute intensity of the Oxford teaching programme freaks me out a bit. Cambridge seemed more laid back.

If Hague institutions is something that you are interested in, it would make sense to apply to Leiden. LL.M. course is taught both in Leiden law faculty and Leiden Grotius centre in the Hague. They have numerous guest lectures inside/outside university framework, the Hague itself provides many opportunities to attend various conferences/lectures/seminars on international law every week. Here you can attend hearings of the ICJ/ICC/ICTY/SCSL/etc. as well. As for internships, I think around 1/3 of my LL.M. class did criminal tribunals.

Dutch government also offers you financial subsidies if you are an European Union student and work at least 4 days per month. Some internships you can do part time (3-4 days per week) so it is possible for one to be self-sustained financially during the internship period, which is definitely a huge plus.