Earning a degree requires successful examination in a total of fifty (50) courses, including:
- thirty-seven (37) mandatory courses, and
- thirteen (13) elective courses.
Mandatory courses are the courses that every student must successfully have completed as a prerequisite to graduating.
Elective courses re the courses that students may freely elect based on their personal interests. That being noted, each student must successfully complete:
- one (1) General Education (GE) course, to be selected among five (5) such courses offered.
- two (2) Interdisciplinary Seminars (IS), to be selected among five (5) cycles of pertinent Seminars.
- six (6) Limited Selection Specialized courses (LS), to be selected among thirty (30) such courses offered, categorised in six (6) cycles of five (5) courses each, corresponding to the law school’s six (6) departments.
- four (4) Open Selection Specialized courses (OS), to be selected among eighty (80) such courses offered, categorised in two (2) cycles. Every student must select two (2) courses from each cycle, including courses taught in foreign languages.
Attending certain courses requires prior successful examination in one or more requisite courses.
As in every scientific area, the acquisition of knowledge starts with the attendance and active participation of the student and continues with personal reading, which will permit each student to become acquainted with the subject matter through the study of doctrine and case-law alike. Regular class attendance is highly recommended to attain optimal academic performance; it is only through direct contact with each teacher/instructor that the student can fully comprehend the course material, become accustomed to legal reasoning, and learn to apply the scientific method.
Given that law is an “applied” science and that the bulk of courses have practical applications, teaching is carried out with the help of hypotheticals and other exercises, which complement each course and are crucial for the comprehension of the material.
The examination for all courses is conducted during the examination period following each semester, as per the Study Guide. The particular type of examination (written or oral) is determined by the teacher/instructor. Grades are awarded in whole numbers on a scale of zero to ten (0-10), five (5) being the passing grade. In the event of failure, students may retake the exam during a supplementary examination period offered in September. Should the student fail again, registration is required anew in a subsequent semester. If the course is elective, the student may sign up for another course among those offered.
