Aristotle University Law School is dedicated to offering top quality education to its students, as well as to providing its academic personnel a creative environment enabling them to engage in their teaching and research duties. The commitment of members of the faculty and researchers alike to constantly improve teaching, research and services offered is a strategic goal of the school.
Our vision is to strive for the attainment of educational, research and – more broadly – social goals, faithfully observing the values of excellence, scientific ethics, accountability, sustainable development, and social cohesion.
The Law School has established (and implements) a concrete ‘quality policy’, fully linked to the legal and regulatory framework governing the operation of Aristotle University, as well as with the pertinent legislation governing higher education.
Through the perpetual review and redesign of such quality policy, the Law School is committed to achieving even higher performance in its domain. This strategy shall help highlight values, models and examples, with a view to contributing to the whole University’s objective to attain high quality teaching and research results that will lead the country on a stable path of genuine development.
Academic physiognomy and orientation of the undergraduate programme of studies
The current programme of studies was designed under the oversight of the Dean’s Office between 2013-2014. The drafting of the programme was preceded by extensive preparatory work, based on the study of undergraduate programmes of foreign Law Schools, consultations with all faculty members of the School, discussions with students, and analysis of the School’s potential in terms of both human resources and infrastructure. During the preparation of the programme, a number of factors were also taken into account, including the academic physiognomy of the School (namely its history, domain, objectives, teaching staff, prospects), the orientation of the programme (educational, scientific, professional), as well as the remarks contained in the Evaluation Report of the School, which had been completed in 2013. The current undergraduate programme of studies commenced as of the academic year 2015-2016. Minor changes were made in early 2017 (which came into force as of the academic year 2017–2018), while another minor amendment, related to the addition of a method to evaluate the programme, was adopted in the summer of 2019, entering into force as of the academic year 2019-2020.
Based on the new undergraduate programme of studies, students acquire general and specialized knowledge, as well as the methodological-research tools which will help them delve into the science of law. More specifically, the following learning outcomes are actively sought:
- The graduates of the Law School shall acquire proven knowledge and demonstrated ability to grasp the subjects-matter of Public, Private, Criminal, International and European Law, as well as be able to comprehend topics in the general fields of knowledge with which the science of law comes into interdisciplinary interplay, including history, philosophy, methodology and sociology of law. They shall also obtain knowledge of both the normative content and the method of interpretation and practical application of the basic laws, principles and institutions of the Greek and international (especially European) legal order; the prevailing and opposing views embodied in the case law of Greek and EU courts concerning focal legal matters; the historical, social and cultural significance of legal phenomena; the views advanced in jurisprudence, and their implications for the administration of justice.
- The graduates of the Law School should be able to apply the above knowledge (and their ability to comprehend legal rules) in practice, pursuant to the applicable procedural rules, demonstrated by their skills in developing and outing forward arguments, and solving practical problems within the context of each particular field. They should act, in particular, with awareness and in observance of the law, as responsible administrators of public affairs or private matters; to participate, based on the conditions of the law, in organized vocational and/or training programs leading to the exercise of various legal professions (practicing lawyers, National School of Judges, etc.); to independently draft legal briefs and other legal documents (such as contracts); and to participate, by balancing conflicting interests, in negotiations towards the amicable settlement of legal disputes, as well as in organized training programs for legal mediators.
- The graduates of the Law School shall master the skills needed for the further acquisition of knowledge on their part, and which will enable them to proceed to graduate studies requiring a high degree of autonomous study and research. They should be able to present legal positions and arguments, orally and in written, both on an abstract level and in the context of actual disputes; to contradict any arguments to the contrary (thought they may not always be predictable); to apply legal rules to specific facts; to be able to suggest well-founded (and procedurally admissible) routes for the legal handling of complex factual scenarios; and to participate in scientific debates for or against legal doctrines and positions by means of robust and sound legal arguments.
To promote its learning philosophy, the undergraduate programme of studies mainly includes strictly construed legal courses spanning all areas of the Science of Law, complemented with courses in philosophy, history, sociology, economics, criminology, and political science, while a number of courses have a clear international and European dimension. In this manner, the student is taught, on the one hand, the internal logic of the legal norm, and, on the other, its function in the social, economic, political and international context, in which it is applied and which it aims to regulate.
The learning objective of familiarising students with the evolution of Law is served by the inclusion, in the undergraduate programme of studies, of courses in cutting-edge subjects, such as: Law and Informatics, E-Commerce, Economic Analysis of Law, Energy Law, Environmental Law, International Trade Law, International Criminal Law, etc. In this context, one innovative aspect of the current programme is the introduction of cross-departmental seminars, which are offered by the School in the form of elective courses based on the cooperation of several departments. Thus, interdisciplinarity is advanced in the approach of evolving legal knowledge. Thus, the School aims on the one hand to maintain and enhance the quality of its programme of studies, and on the other hand to enrich it with new fields of knowledge, which will offer students additional scientific and professional perspectives.
The learning objective of acquiring knowledge is promoted by covering (as extensively as possible) the basic fields of law in terms of methodology and substance. Thus, core subjects are taught in their substantive and procedural aspects, which are necessary for tomorrow’s professionals working in the three basic legal professions: lawyers, judges, and notaries. These are divided into five main branches of Law: (a) Civil and Civil Procedural Law, (b) Business Law (Commercial Law, Tax Law, Labor Law and Social Security Law), (c) Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, (d) Public Law, and (e) European and International Law.
By achieving the above learning outcomes, the undergraduate programme of studies offers graduates all the necessary tools (knowledge, methodology, critical judgment, synthetic thinking, multifaceted, thorough study of political and social phenomena) to help them in their pursuit of professional careers as lawyers, notaries, judges or prosecutors, executives of public or private sector companies, members of the diplomatic corps, etc.