Internationalising the curriculum

How to prepare Dutch law students for their careers in a globalised world?

Through bi-weekly posts, MA staff participating in the USO-project on internationalisation will share concrete teaching tools and activities through which we aim to enhance ‘tailor-made’ internationalisation.

This week: Internationalising the curriculum: lessons from MA Private Law and the MA Corporate Law.

Today’s globalised world requires that students acquire an international orientation during their studies. This is of particular importance for all Master’s programmes. It may however be complex to enable this within specific Master’s programmes. In this article the complexity of this will be explained with regard to the Private Law Master’s programme and the Corporate Law Master’s programme and you will be provided with concrete measures to prepare students for their careers in a globalised world.

First of all, it should be emphasised that the influence of European law and international law on the national legislation and case law cannot be underestimated. Thus, one can only study Dutch law while carefully considering the European and international perspectives.

Secondly, comparative law research is of importance. As part of the curriculum, students in the Private Law Master’s programme and the Corporate Law Master’s programme at UU will become familiar in some of their courses with the perspective of another legal system. This will prepare the students for their careers in a globalised world.

One of the main factors that makes it complex for students in both the Private Law Master’s programme and the Corporate Law Master’s programme to acquire an international orientation is that they can only study the decisions of the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) by reading the Dutch text, as English translations of these decisions are not generally available and, even if they were, students would probably be put at a disadvantage. As language is the toolkit for a lawyer, (future) lawyers are aware that any translation will not be identical and some nuances may be lost, which may be crucial. Therefore, it is necessary to study texts in their original language. In addition, almost all commentaries on case law and all law books on private law are in the Dutch language.

Which measures can be implemented in order to prepare students for their careers in a globalised world? How can they acquire an international orientation?

1. Comparative law research will enhance this international perspective, as it will show students that the approach of Dutch law may be different from the approach taken by another legal system. For example, very recently provisions were introduced in the Dutch Insolvency Law on a so called ‘civielrechtelijk bestuursverbod’. On the basis of these provisions, the director of a company may – in certain circumstances – be disqualified. Whereas the Dutch provisions were only introduced very recently, British company law has a long history of disqualification orders and the Company Directors Disqualification Act has been in force for years. It may be interesting and helpful to study the English Act in order to fully comprehend the concept of disqualification of directors.
2. Secondly, it may also be helpful and interesting for students to spend some time abroad during their Master’s programme. This will enhance the intercultural skills of students.

In a pilot programme at UU, we combine these two aspects within the Master’s programme in Private Law and Corporate Law. We offer students the opportunity to spend some time at a Law Faculty abroad as part of their Master’s programme. This will allow them to carry out comparative law research. The outcomes of this comparative law research will become part of the Master’s thesis of the participating students. So far, this programme has been very successful.

Dr. S.A. Kruisinga

Sonja Kruisinga