Postgraduate Certificate in International, European and Comparative Energy, Environmental and Climate Change Law, relevant to Energy Sector

Click here to download the application form

The program "Postgraduate Studies in International, European and Comparative Energy, Environmental and Climate Change Law, relevant to Energy Sector" will be organized for the first time at the Sustainability College Bruges in 2018.

The program aims to provide for a thorough insight into the synergies between energy, environmental and climate change law, from the perspective of the energy sector. The courses are thaught by internationally distinguished fellows who are experts in the field.

These areas of law concerned are booming areas of legal practice and academic research due to the legal, economic, and societal importance of energy, environmental and climate change regulation. The program consists of three units:

• International Energy, Environmental and Climate Change law (60h)
• European Energy, Environment and Climate Change Law (100h)
• Comparative Energy Environment and Climate Change Law (60h)

Program

The 2018 program "Postgraduate Studies in International, European and Comparative Energy, Environmental and Climate Change Law, relevant to Energy Sector" can be downloaded if you click above on green button to download the application form.

Participation

Participation in the program can happen in different ways:

• Fulltime participation: the participant takes the three units in one year (2018),
• Halftime participation: the participant takes the three units in two years (2018/2019),
• Modular participation: the participant takes one or more modules (module = 1 day) of one or more units.

Participants can be young/senior/retired professionals from the profit, non-profit, government or academic sector. Fulltime participants are eligible to attend, in addition to the program, free of charge, 3 "Hot Topics in the Energy Sector" of their choice, that will be organized throughout the year.

Objectives of the Program

Subject Knowledge and Understanding

Participants will:

• learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the current legal framework concerned with energy, environmental and climate change law;
• comprehend key emerging legal and policy issues requiring an effective regulatory and institutional response and the political challenges to advance reform in energy, environmental and climate change law; and
• train to absorb the core issues of the teaching modules and use this knowledge as a foundation for their research, and to retain that knowledge as a practical starting point for functioning in the professional world of energy, environmental and climate change lawyers.

The programme would enhance intellectual development through the comprehension of:

• qualitative and quantitative independent research methods applicable in the administrative and legal dimension of energy, environmental and climate change law;
• the multidisciplinary and comparative approach via exposure to political thinking, anthropological and social aspects affecting energy, environmental and climate change law
• the evaluation methods of current economic models, policy and legal tools; and
• the knowledge and know-how, skill (both verbally and written), and the professional approach and intuition required in the three different sectors that range from sector-specific energy, environmental and climate change law, through to the impact of EU and international economic business law on the three sectors.

Key transferable skills

Participants who complete this program will be able to:

• identify contemporary scientific, socio economic, policy and legal issues relating to the areas under study;
• address underlying problems and learn from success stories in the national regional and international governance of energy, environmental and climate change law;
• apply legal instruments and management skills as tools for good governance of the areas under study;
• apply thematic principles that aim at the negotiation/formulation of regulatory instruments in the fields under study;
• apply the requisite and applicable legal framework in negotiation, decision making and dispute settlement;
• conduct legal analysis without avoiding the issues, and without merely re-packaging pre-existing knowledge;
• employ existing knowledge to further research and expertise through assimilation leading to innovation by being proactive rather than reactive; and
• lead in a professional environment by employing expertise to further the strategic goals of his/her professional environment.

Evaluation

At the end of each unit, fulltime and halftime participants will be required to complete a research paper, thus enabling self-study and analysis in a chosen area related to that unit.

Internship

Fulltime and halftime participants are offered the possibility to complete a traineeship with an organisation, whether public or private, in either the energy, environmental or climate change sector. This internship is an optional part of the programme. The programme will provide a list of approved internship hosts. Participants are not limited to the hosts provided in this list and are not discouraged from seeking and securing an internship with an organization of their choice, as long as the place of internship is approved by the program leadership.

The minimal duration of the internship is one month. This does not necessarily rule out internships for longer than one month. In view of the coursework including the writing of the dissertation, decisions to exceed the minimal requirement should however be taken with care.

Dissertation

Fulltime and halftime participants are required to complete a dissertation. This dissertation covers one issue - whether part of energy law, environmental law or climate change law, or all three - from the point of view of international, European and comparative law.

Admission Requirements

Fulltime and halftime applicants are required to submit the following documents:

• the completed application form,
• a copy of an obtained bachelor and/or master degree, together with official transcripts,
• a copy of passport or ID card,
• a Secure English Language Test (SELT) result,
• a CV and personal statement/letter of recommendation.

Deadline for enrollment is 1 December 2017 (12pm CET).

Participation Fee

• Fulltime participant: 8.500 euro (including participation to 3 "Hot Topics" of their choice)
• Halftime participant: 4.500 euro
• Modular participant: 250 euro/module (participants taking all modules from one unit, pay 3000 euro for the entire unit)

Certificate

The program is a continuing education program, not a degree (bachelor, master, master after master) program.

A successful fulltime participant receives a "Post Graduate Certificate of Participation and Evaluation".

A successful halftime participant receives a "Post Graduate Certificate of Participation and Evaluation (part I/part II)".

A modular participant receives a "Certificate of Participation".