IN exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 30(5) and 31(6) of the Education Act (Cap. 327), the Chancellor of the University of Malta has promulgated the following regulations made by the Senate of the University of Malta by virtue of the powers conferred upon it by sections 31 and 35 of the said Act:

Citation and interpretation

1. (1) These regulations may be cited as the Magister Juris in European and Comparative Law - M. Jur. -Degree Course Regulations, 2001.

(2) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -

"the Board" means the Board of the Faculty of Laws;

"the Course" means the course of studies leading to the Degree of Magister Juris in European and Comparative Law - M. Jur.; and

"the Degree" means the Degree of Magister Juris in European and Comparative Law - M. Jur.

Applicability

2. These regulations shall apply to courses starting in October 2001 or later.

Eligibility for the Degree

3. To be eligible for the award of the Degree, students must:

(a) be registered as regular students in terms of the Admission Regulations of the University and satisfy the qualification requirements for admission to the Course stipulated in regulation 4;

(b) complete the course of studies, obtain all the credits indicated in regulation 8 and comply with any other requirements as prescribed in these regulations; and

(c) comply with any other requirements prescribed in any other relevant statutes, regulations and bye-laws of the University.

Qualifications for Admission

4. (1) Applicants for admission to the Course shall be in possession of one of the following qualifications:

(a) the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.); or

(b) the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Legal and Humanistic Studies with at least Category II; or

(c) equivalent qualifications from this University or another university recognised by Senate for the purpose.

(2) The admission of applicants whose first degree is not the LL.D. may be made conditional on the results of an interview. The Board may impose additional requirements, including the requirement to follow a preparatory programme of studies and passing a qualifying examination, prior to registration for the Course.

Registration for the Course

5. (1) Applicants wishing to register for the Course shall apply on the prescribed form and within the time specified by the Office of the Registrar.

(2) On admission to the Course, students shall be required to register for the appropriate number of study-units, as indicated in paragraph (a) of regulation 8.

Course Duration

6. The Course shall extend over a period of twelve months of full-time study or its equivalent in part-time study. The Board may extend the period of studies by not more than six months or its equivalent in the case of part-time studies.

7. Students pursuing the Course on a part-time basis shall be required to register at the beginning of each academic year.

Course of Studies

8. The Course shall be offered in areas of study in European and Comparative Law, as determined by the Board and students shall be required to obtain the credits for the following two components:

(a) a taught component, consisting of study-units in European and Comparative Law to which twenty credits are assigned; and

(b) a research component leading to the presentation of a dissertation, in accordance with regulation 11, to which ten credits are assigned.

Catalogue of Study-Units

9. The Board shall draw up a catalogue of study-units for the Course. The catalogue shall indicate the code, title, and description of each study-unit, the credits assigned to each study-unit, and the methods of teaching and assessment. The Board shall publish the catalogue prior to the commencement of each Course, following the approval of Senate.

Assessment and Progress

10. (1) Credits shall be assigned according to the following grades in descending order of merit: A, B, C, and D. Failure shall be indicated by F.

(2) The grades for the study-units shall take into account the students' performance in the coursework and in the written examinations, which shall be held either on completion of a study-unit or at the end of the second semester. For the purpose of the award of an overall grade for a study-unit, coursework shall be weighted at 40% whilst the written examination shall be weighted at 60%.

(3) Students who fail in the written examination of one or more study-units shall be allowed to resit that examination once only at the next scheduled examination session. In such cases, the maximum grade that may be awarded is grade D.

(4) Students who do not obtain a minimum of twelve credits at the first sitting shall be considered to have definitively failed. Students who fail any resit shall be considered to have definitively failed, unless the Board, in exceptional circumstances, decides to review the case.

Dissertation

11. (1) The dissertation shall be of not more than 25,000 words in length on a subject proposed by the students and approved by the Board. It should provide evidence of independent research and constitute an original contribution to the subject.

(2) Students shall present a written proposal for a dissertation topic not later than six months from the beginning of the academic year in which they shall be completing the Course.

(3) On approval of the dissertation proposal, students shall be assigned a supervisor who shall be appointed by the Board, on the recommendation of the Head of the Department of European and Comparative Law.

(4) The dissertation shall be submitted by not later than the second week of September. The Board may, in its discretion, grant students an extension of the submission date of up to three months.

(5) The dissertation shall be examined by a Board of Examiners appointed by Senate, on the recommendation of the Board.

(6) Students shall submit eight copies of the dissertation and declare in writing that the dissertation is their own work and conforms to the requirements indicated in paragraph (1) of this regulation.

(7) The Board of Examiners shall be convened by its Chairman to discuss the dissertation. Students may also be required to take a viva voce examination in defence of their dissertation.

(8) The Board of Examiners may approve the dissertation. It may require the students to make corrections or to completely rewrite the dissertation within a stated time limit or it may reject the dissertation altogether.

(9) Students whose dissertation is rejected or whose corrections or rewriting are considered inadequate or who have not submitted their dissertation within the required time limit shall not be awarded the Degree.

Classification and Award of the Degree

12. (1) The final grade of each student shall take into account the grades obtained in the all study-units and the dissertation, which shall be weighted according to the number of credits assigned to each.

(2) The names of students who qualify for the award of the Degree shall be published in a list in alphabetical order classified as follows:

Passed with Distinction
Passed.

Joint Degrees

13. (1) Where the University, with the approval of Senate, enters into an agreement with a foreign university for the granting of the Degree jointly, then the credits necessary to qualify for the Degree may be taken partly at the University and partly at the foreign university as provided for in such agreement.

(2) The Board of Examiners and the Degree Classification Board shall, in those cases referred to in paragraph (1) of this regulation, be constituted in terms of decisions taken by the appropriate governing bodies of both institutions.

(3) In the instances governed by this regulation the Degree shall be awarded jointly on one certificate by both universities and shall be conferred at either university as agreed between them.

Repeal

14. The Magister Juris - M. Jur. - Degree Course Regulations, 1997, published as Legal Notice 192 of 1997, shall be deemed to cease to be in force as from the 30th September 2001, provided that students registered for this course before the 1st October 2001 shall continue to be governed by the regulations that were in force at the time of their joining the course.