Structure of the Program

The Academy offers 3-week summer study sessions on the theory and practice of public law in national legal orders, as well as in the law of the European Union and of the European Convention on Human Rights. Students may attend one session to earn a Certificate of Attendance in European Public Law, or attend two consecutive summer sessions plus write a dissertation to obtain the Intensive International Master of Laws (I.I.LL.M.) in European Public Law.

The Program is composed of two intensive teaching sessions, with 2 general courses and 2 special courses, on different topics. At the end of each session, students must undertake an examination, which will be in the form of an essay, marked on a pass/fail/distinction basis. The final session is held in Sounion where students attend the Annual Reunion of the European Group of Public Law.

The Certificate

To obtain the Certificate of Attendance, students must participate in one Academy study session (3 weeks of classes) and fulfill all of the program’s requirements, including regular attendance in all classes, active participation during the courses and successful completion of the essays.

As the topics and lecturers of the study sessions vary from year to year, many students choose to attend the sessions more than once. Recurring attendees are also awarded the Certificate of Attendance.

The Intensive International Master of Law I.I.LL.M

The Intensive International Master of Law (I.I.LL.M) in European Public Law is a Diploma level degree, which covers highly specialized topics addressed to graduates, post-graduates and PhD students. The aim is to enable students to gain a better understanding of recent developments in European Public Law and to assist them in their academic or professional career. The program is delivered under the auspices of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO), which is an International Organization with long-standing expertise in the field of European Public Law. The program is endorsed by 76 universities throughout the world which sit on the EPLO’s Board of Directors.

How to obtain the I.I.LL.M

To obtain the I.I.LL.M. students are obliged to attend 2 Academy study sessions of a 3-week duration each (6 weeks in total), to successfully complete all assignments, and to write a dissertation which is defended before an ad hoc international jury panel.

The Academy study sessions are conducted annually during the months of August and September. I.I.LL.M. Candidates are required to attend and successfully pass two study sessions and, in the months in between, produce their dissertation. The dissertation is prepared under the supervision of a member of the European Group of Public Law.

In order to accommodate participants with their professional commitments, the I.I.LL.M does not have to be completed within two consecutive summers. In addition, students may choose to produce their dissertation following the attendance of the second study session. In this case, students have to defend their dissertation no later than two years following their attendance of the second study session.

Essay question

Students must attend classes at the Academy regularly, and they are required to write one essay for each of the 1-week intensive courses taught every summer in order to meet the Academy requirements. Essays are assessed on a pass/fail/distinction basis.

Essay questions are the preferred form of assessment as they allow students to demonstrate critical-thinking skills and to reason concisely. The process of writing an essay is an iterative one, as students at the Academy are required to read course materials in advance, to prepare a draft essay, and to finalize their work while at the Academy. Students are strongly encouraged to start writing their essays before attending the Academy given that attendance at class is mandatory.

Essay are to be written in English, should be word-processed, and are to be no more than 2000 words long, including footnotes. The texts should be presented in: Times New Roman 11pt font, at 1.5 spaced, and text justified. All academic work should be referenced and cited. Deadlines for submission of the essays are available at the page.

Dissertation

Students who wish to complete the I.L.L.M program are assigned a supervisor, who is also a member of the European Group of Public Law. A thesis must be defended before an international ad hoc jury – the examination always takes place during the study sessions in September. Students who successfully defend their thesis can, on the recommendation of their jury, have their written work selected for publication in the “Academy of European Public Law Series“, which is a special edition of the acknowledged journal “European Review of Public Law“.

Submission process

Students will liaise with the Academy Secretariat, who will assist the candidate when identifying a potential supervisor. To facilitate this process, students are asked to notify the Academy Secretariat by February 28 the latest whether they intend to defend their thesis at the upcoming study session, and to provide the following information:

• indicate the EGPL member acting as her/his supervisor

• the language of the dissertation

• the title or topic of the thesis

The final draft of a dissertation should be submitted no later than July 13 of the year in which the student will defend it. Students should at the same time provide a short summary of their dissertation (2/3 pages) and a letter of evaluation from their supervisor. Students should also provide three hard-copies of their dissertation before the oral assessment. Compliance with all procedures, deadlines, and requirements of the Academy of European Public Law is mandatory.

Editorial guidelines

Dissertations can be written in one of the working languages of the European Review of Public Law:English, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, German or Italian. A dissertation should be not be less than 22,000 words and no more than 30,000 words.

Where a dissertation will not comply with the required length, or where there is a request for an extension of time for submitting a dissertation, a student should file a formal request in the form of a letter addressed to the Academy’s Director, explaining the reasons for not complying with the guidelines, along with their assigned supervisor’s opinion. A request to the Director is to be made via the Academy’s Secretariat; the Director’s decision is final.

The following points are to be noted in addition:

• Texts must be presented in: Times New Roman 11pt font, at 1.5 spaced, and text justified. Paragraphs should not be indented. Please use footnotes rather than endnotes, using Times New Roman font, size 10. Cross-references should refer to the relevant section of the dissertation or to the exact footnote number and not to a page number of the dissertation.

• All references, cross-references and citations should be checked by the authors before the submission of their articles.

• Final decisions on formatting matters, or matters of grammar, punctuation etc. that are not mentioned in this document are to be taken by the Editors.

Students whose dissertation will be selected for publication in the Academy of European Public Law Series, will be invited in due time, by the EPLO Editions Office, to submit the final version of their dissertation. This should be accompanied by a short abstract -of no more than 200 words-, outlining the content and argument of the dissertation. A student should also provide a brief statement of the author’s professional/academic qualifications.