The Brussels School of Governance - Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Check out the key features of this LLM in this new video

Get a taste of this LLM by watching our video in which the Programme Director and two professors explain the programme's key features. Click on the thumbnail image on the right-hand side.

Why this LLM?

This LLM is one of the oldest LLM programs around, offering 95% employability, a 1,300+ strong alumni network from 110 nationalities, and situated at the heart of Europe. It is renowned since 1971 for its outstanding quality, international character, and a carefully developed curriculum that reinforces the skills you will need in your career in order to prepare LLM students to assume leading positions in an interconnected world where legal areas are increasingly interlinked. Students will acquire a multidisciplinary perspective and will receive a very versatile training, covering the various roles that they can take on professionally, be it legal advisor, policy maker, negotiator, data or sustainability consultant, human rights defender, or researcher.

Key features:

• Innovative LLM with holistic approach of contemporary global legal challenges, focusing on sustainability – social inclusiveness & human rights – digitalisation
• Versatile training. Students will be able to assume key responsibilities in interconnected areas that require highly specialised legal knowledge, leadership skills and intercultural approaches
• Taught at the Brussels School of Governance, a leading institute in policy and fundamental research of the highest quality in an international context. Its President, former EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, is one of the professors in the LLM.
• The Brussels School of Governance’s central location in Brussels, which allows the programme to benefit from the knowledge and networks of professors working at the EU and other institutions and law firms in Brussels. Teaching staff includes a former European Trade Commissioner, the President of the Litigation Chamber at the Belgian Data Protection Authority, a Deputy Director-General (DG Competition) and a Head of Unit (DG Trade) in the European Commission,  a partner in an international law firm, and renowned researchers
• ​Cutting-edge education. It is an exclusively advanced master: basics of international and European law are a prerequisite
• ​Experience: programme of excellence established in 1971 
• Limited class size ensures high interaction and close contacts among students and with the professors, helping create true bonds that last
• Alumni network of over 1300 lawyers from 110 countries 
• Supported by the expertise of our Office for Teaching, Learning and Innovation to accommodate sophisticated blended teaching methods 

Curriculum: 

The LLM has three components: the first block deals with core contemporary areas of international and European Law, with a total of 18 ECTS. The second block trains students on the major challenges of the interconnected global and cross-cutting areas: sustainability, social inclusiveness and human rights, and digitalisation. Each of these areas is weighted equally, i.e. 9 credits for a total of 27 ECTS. The third (research) block of 15 credits consists of writing a Master’s thesis on a topic chosen by the student, with personalised guidance during the process.

For a full overview of courses, please click on here. 

Talk directly to our students and staff:

On our LLM website, you can submit your questions through a form or by e-mail, but you can also engage in a live chat with our students and staff to get an immediate answer to all your questions about the programme.

The Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) is the alliance between the Institute for European Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Vesalius College. For decades, both institutions have built up strong reputations as frontrunners in education, research, and academic services on the international scene. 

The Brussels School of Governance hosts important research projects funded by the EU in topics such as sustainability, climate policies, the role of the EU in the world politics, digitalisation, and migration and diversity, among other topics. This environment allows LLM students to learn about developments in these topics directly from those who are leading the field.

Located at the heart of the European Union, The Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) is the alliance between the Institute for European Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Vesalius College. The IES is a thriving Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in European Studies and was named by Study International as one of the 5 leading European law schools (June 2016).

This innovative LLM’s curriculum offers the best of both worlds: on the one hand, it provides solid foundations in the core areas of international and European law, building on the strengths of the programme’s 50-year history. On the other, the new curriculum offers its students a holistic approach of today’s emerging global legal challenges, focusing on the following three challenges: sustainability – social inclusiveness & human rights – digitalisation.

Our campus is only a few tram stops away from the EU institutions, NATO headquarters, the Commission's outstanding library as well as dozens of think tanks and law firms. Our location offers the possibility to study the EU not just through courses, but also through the living lab of scores of policy related events and a maze of contacts in the Brussels policy hub.

The LLM is organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the VUB. The teaching staff is a unique mixture of renowned EU scholars, top-level EU practitioners and practicing lawyers that combine academic rigor with the latest practical insights and cultural diversity.

The Master in International and European Law is a post-graduate “Master after Master” programme. Each year we make a careful selection of maximum 40 students from all over the world, based on the following requirements:

Academic requirements

• Students are eligible to apply when they have either (1) obtained a MA in Law (5 years / 300 ECTS), or (2) if they have obtained, in accordance with the regulations of the country where the diploma is issued, a final law degree that provides access to the legal profession or to the qualifying exams for admission to the Bar, even if that law degree is less than 300 ECTS. The equivalence of foreign degrees will be decided by the Academic Board of the Programme.
• Students are selected based on an overall assessment of their profiles, including their academic qualifications, work and other relevant experience, motivation as well as the required level of proficiency in English (see below).

Language requirements

The Programme’s language of instruction is English. Every student who applies must provide recent certified proof of proficiency in English, by means of one of the 5 tests that we accept, with the required minimum level or score. 

Visit our website here for a complete overview of entry requirements. 

The application process for the LLM in International and European Law is a two-phased one. In the first phase, students are assessed by the BSoG Selection Committee. In the second phase, students who have been accepted in Phase 1 need to formally register online with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), which is the degree-awarding entity for this programme.

We recommend prospective students to apply as soon as possible to maximize the chances of being admitted. 

We accept and review applications starting in October. The deadlines for students to apply are:

• 21 August for EEA citizens
• 20 March for non-EEA citizens

Visit our website here for details on how to apply. 

The tuition for the entire programme is 13 000€. 

Please check our website here for the latest information on tuition fees and waivers

The Programme offers a number of scholarships that take the form of (partial) tuition fee waivers, which are awarded on the basis of merit and demonstrated need. Students can apply for such a waiver by 15 April at the latest. For more information visit the FAQ section of our LLM website here. 

Brussels voted as best student city in Belgium

Brussels is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. It is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), although it boasts an astonishing variety of cultures, styles and nationalities. Being the capital of an expanding Europe, Brussels is an international city like no other. 31% of its population is of foreign origin, and this makes for a unique atmosphere in which cultures interact easily with one another. A great many people work in Brussels. It is the headquarters of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and also plays host to NATO's European headquarters. The reason for this is Brussels' specific advantages: its central location in Europe, the fact that it is a multilingual city, the presence of different cultures and the population mix.

For all questions about accommodation visit the accommodation page of the VUB, here. 

Packed with interactive seminars, these short programmes attract students and young professionals who wish to broaden their knowledge of the European institutions, European law and the European decision-making process in general.

These intensive two-week Winter & Summer Schools on EU Policy-making consist of 5 ECTS. 

In the Summer School edition, students spend one week in Brussels and one week in Vienna. The Winter School is a separate programme organised fully online. 

Winter School 

From 6 to 17 February 2023, the Brussels School of Governance will organise the third edition of its online Jean Monnet Winter School on EU Policy-Making, in collaboration with its partners the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. This Winter School builds on the long-standing expertise of the similar (offline) Summer School that the BSoG and its partners have organised for almost 20 years. Other than being taught online, the second main difference with its 'Summer sibling', is the focus area of the Winter edition, which will be digital rights (competition, freedom of expression, data protection, disinformation resilience) and diplomacy, whereas the Summer School focuses on civil rights. 

Summer School

The intensive two-week Jean Monnet Summer School on EU Policy Making, taught on campus, is held one week in Brussels and one week in Vienna from Monday 3 to Friday 14 July 2023. 

The first week of the summer school reviews the main EU institutions and decision-making procedures, while theoretically exploring questions of governance, participation and legitimacy. During the second week students learn more about EU foreign relations. Each year, the programme has a central theme. The focus area of the Summer edition, which will be civil rights, touching on policy discussions related to human security, migration, anti-discrimination, diversity.

Study visits include the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of the EU, OSCE and the UN!

For more information, visit the website here.