杜伦大学

Course Summary

This course gives you the widest choice of modules. Modules can be selected from those available for students studying in International Trade and Commercial Law, and European Trade and Commercial Law, Corporate Law and International Law and Governance. Having completed your taught modules, you will undertake an extended dissertation of 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 words in length, under the supervision of a member of staff who is an expert in your chosen field of research. Teaching is by a mixture of lectures and smaller, student-led, seminars or tutorial groups. The dissertation is pursued by independent research.

Students attending the course are drawn from a broad range of countries, and their previous academic or professional experiences enrich the course. The Law School hosts a number of research centres, including the Institute for Commercial and Corporate Law, the Durham European Law Institute, the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Law and Global Justice at Durham and the Human Rights Centre. You are encouraged to participate in all their activities.

Course Learning and Teaching

This course involves both taught modules and a substantial dissertation component. Taught modules are delivered by a mixture of lectures and seminars. Although most lectures do encourage participation, they are used primarily to introduce chosen topics, identify relevant concepts, and introduce you to the main debates and ideas relevant to the chosen topic. They give you a framework of knowledge that you can then develop, and reflect on, through your own reading and study.

Seminars are smaller-sized, student-led classes. You are expected to carry out reading prior to classes, and are usually set questions or problems to which to apply the knowledge they have developed. Through class discussion, or the presentation of papers, you are given the opportunity to test and refine your knowledge and understanding, in a relaxed and supportive environment.

The number of contact hours in each module will reflect that module’s credit weighting. 15-credit modules will have, in total, 15 contact hours (of either lectures or seminars); 30-credit modules will have 30 contact hours. You must accumulate, in total, between 90 and 120 credits of taught modules for the course (depending upon the length of their dissertation).

In addition to your taught modules, all students must produce a dissertation of between 10,000 and 20,000 words. This is intended to be the product of your own independent research. You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor, and will have a series of (usually four) one-to-one meetings with your supervisor over the course of the academic year.

Finally, all taught postgraduate students on this course, are encouraged to attend the various events, including guest lectures and seminars, organised through the School’s research centres, including the Institute for Commercial and Corporate Law, the Human Rights Centre, Law and Global Justice at Durham, the Centre for Gender and Law at Durham, the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, and the Durham European Law Institute.