Hey guys, need your advice.

I am a scholarship winner, applied to several Unis in the UK, received replies from 5 of them (Edinburgh, Southampton, Durham, UCL, QMUL). Finally decided that I want to live in London only, and am now in the process of making my final choice (UCL or QMUL). I understand UCL is much better, but I am interested in a specialization I can't find in either Uni: public-private partnerships. In my country I work on this major project involving transfer of a state-owned airport to a private investor, and we call it public-private partnership (or PPP), and I am interested in developing in this field. However, I haven't found anything similar in any course list so far, although UK is a world leader in PPPS. Do they not teach it or what? In this situation I believe it would be better for me to obtain an LLM degree, without any specialization. Questions:

1. considering the above, what Uni do I choose?
2. what subjects are close to what I described (PPP)?
3. what are the pros/cons of having a regular LLM and a 'specialized LLM' (i.e. LLM Commercial Law, etc.)?
4. how do I reject the offers I'm not taking? Do Unis get offended when you inform them that you\'re not with them? What\'s the best way to put it - say you\'re not going anywhere this year (lie) or say you have chosen a different Uni?

Thanks a lot. Any advice will be appreciated.

I think that you're looking for a very specific matter, which will be very hard to find. I know it's a little to late to say that, but I think you should've looked for a research degree rather than for a taught programme. I'm not sure if there's any university that offers a programme in that area.

Now, did you take a look at the profile of the academic staff at UCL and QML? Try to see in which area the staff focus their research. Maybe that'll help you decide. Take a look at the syllabus of the modules. I'm aware that you must know much more about this than I do, but if you want something connected with PPP, I think you should look for public law, administrative law, contracts law and things like that.

I'm not sure if I was of any help. Sorry!!!

Sasha,
what was your choice?
I am asking because I have the same result of my research - I am interested in PPPs and have not found any related LLM programme (2010/2011).
What would you recommend?

Dear ALL,
All ideas are highly appreciated!

Kind regards!
Uliana

Hey, Uliana!

I finally chose UCL, where I'm currently studying. I'm taking various international trade, transactions and finance courses, and some of them do touch upon ppp issues. I think I've made the right choice.

If you'd like to contact me personally, please skype sun-tcha.

Good luck!

@sasha:
That's quite an interesting post. I think the problem with PPPs is that they cover a variety of legal subjects.

In this context, at least in the European Union, public procurement law is very important, as PPP contracts with a value above a certain treshold have to be publicly advertised due to EC legislation. Thus, we discussed the issue of PPP in the module "Public Procurement in EC and International Trade Law" at the University of Nottingham. There was also a seminar on this in the module "Public Procurement Law", which dealt with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement for developing countries. We also discussed the outcome of the UK Private Finance Inititiative.

However, this was just one issue in both of the modules, albeit it is definitely possible to write your dissertation on a subject dealing with PPPs.

Apart from that, Tax law is quite important in the context of PPPs, as it is important to design e.g. a special purpose vehicle in a way which makes sure that the public authorities save money. Correspondingly, corporate law is quite important. However, usually these issues - particularly tax law - are a matter of national legislation, thus I'm not sure whether attending an LLM in a forein country might be helpful in this regard. On the other hand, economics are important in the context of PPP as well in order to understand when it is feasible for public authorities to engage in PPPs. This isn't quite easy to estimate, as PPPs usually are designed to last 30 years or so.

To sum up, it's hard to give a proper advice concerning a special LLM programme. Maybe you should try to have a close look on the LLM programmes of your favourite universities and see whether certain modules cover some of the topics I've mentioned.

Hope this helps a bit.