University of the Western Cape

LLM and MPhil degrees offered by the Faculty of Law
The Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape offers coursework LLM and MPhil degrees in eight areas of specialisation: Constitutional Litigation, Environmental Law, International and Human Rights Law, International Trade, Investment and Business Law, Labour Law, Law of Provincial and Local Government, Mercantile Law and Transitional Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention from an international and African perspective. Students may also enroll for any combination of modules (i.e. general – for Modes I and II), or for an LLM/MPhil degree by thesis only (Mode III).

The LLM programme has a strong human rights law element to it with specialised offerings in international and regional children’s rights law, international humanitarian law, gender law, and international protection of human rights. Students can choose from central core courses to tailor the LLM to meet their needs or interests.

The specific LLM programmes are as follows:

The LLM programme in Labour Law was designed and is presented in cooperation with the Faculties of Law at the Universities of Cape Town (UCT) and Stellenbosch (US).

In addition to the modules offered at UWC, students may follow additional modules at either UCT or US (both within short travelling distance from UWC). In an exciting new development, the two core modules of our Labour Law programme are now being offered in multi-modal format. This means using internet to make the programme accessible to students outside Cape Town and off campus. 

The LLM in International Trade, Investment and Business Law is a collaborative programme between UWC, the University of Pretoria (UP), the American University (Washington, DC) and the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). Students register and spend one semester at either UWC or UP (alternating between intakes) and one semester at one of the two overseas partners (if funding is available).

The Community Law Centre offers an intensive, practice based Masters Programme in Local Government Law. The programme comprises modules on local government law, inter-governmental relations and good governance. Students are placed at government institutions to conduct an internship on local government and complete their course with a research paper.

The one-year LLM programme Transnational Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention – an International and African Perspective is housed in the South African- German Centre for Development Research and Criminal Justice. It aims at educating African and German students for leading positions at both the national and international levels. During the mid-year vacation in June/July, the students will travel to Germany for a two week Summer School at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Students who pass all their modules will be awarded their LLM degree in early December.

The remaining coursework LLM and MPhil specializations allow students the option to complete two modules at any of those overseas universities with which cooperation agreements exist.

In addition to the ordinary library and electronic resources of the University of the Western Cape, the Law Faculty also has outstanding research facilities including:

• A collection of human rights law and constitutional law texts housed at the Community Law Centre
• Materials on South African and comparative labour and social security law housed at the Social Law Project
• A collection of materials on international criminal justice issues provided by the South African-German Centre for Development Research and Criminal Justice.
• A repository of research materials on disability law and policy collected by the Centre for Disability Law and Policy

Contact Details
University of Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville
Cape Town 7535, South Africa

Postgraduate Administrative Officer
Tel: +27 (0)21 959 3291/ 9338 Fax: +27 (0)21 959 2960

For information on the Master’s Programme in Local Government, contact the Local Government Project at the Community Law Centre: tel: +27 (0)21 959 2950 fax: +27 (0)21 959 2411

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Law Faculty
Community Law Centre
The South African-German Centre for Development Research and Criminal Justice