Target group, occupational fields
The continuing training Master's degree programme in Business Law, with its exemplary combination of self-study sections and attendance phases, is aimed at graduates in the field of business, engineering or humanities with at least one year's professional experience in industry, business and / or administration who, after a first university degree qualifying them for a profession, wish to aspire to or expand a higher management position and acquire the business law and management skills required for this. The target group is therefore a selected group of students who wish to expand and deepen their knowledge of business law as a prerequisite for taking on staff and management positions in companies.
Graduates of the career-integrated degree programme in Business Law (LL.M.) take on demanding tasks as executives in legally oriented professional fields as well as staff positions of small, medium-sized and large companies, above all also in the field of auditing and tax consultancy.
The aim of the studies
is the continuing education of executives whose interdisciplinary professional and methodological competence enables them to perform integrated management. Accordingly, the focus of the studies is on imparting interdisciplinary action knowledge. In addition to imparting in-depth and overarching knowledge of the legal foundations of economic activity, the specialisation of the degree programme lies in teaching the management skills required for management positions. The studies are designed to enable students to understand the application-related content of business law, to analyze legal processes and problems in national and international business practice and, on this basis, to develop economically appropriate solutions on a sound legal foundation. The Master's degree programme is characterized by information and communication law, contract drafting, mediation and project modules (individual project contract law and interdisciplinary project - business game).
Content and structure of the studies
The studies start once a year in the summer semester. The duration of the program is five semesters (120 ECTS); the fifth semester is used to write the Master's thesis.
As an "introduction" and to activate the existing foundation courses, the studies begin in the first semester with a project assignment (case study contract law). In addition, the first three semesters provide in-depth knowledge of business law (contract law, commercial and corporate law, labor law, information and communication law) and management skills (strategy, leadership), supplemented by specialization in a compulsory optional course (security in information technology, innovation or conflict management) in the second semester and a key qualification in electronic business technology in the third semester. In the third and fourth semesters, the focus is on the legal specialisation courses (international business law, competition law and industrial property protection, labor law), rounded off by a second project (business simulation). With contract drafting in the 4th semester and mediation in the 5th semester, the focus is once again specifically on business law.
Degree: Master of Laws (LL.M.)
Supervision of students
Supervision of students is guaranteed throughout the entire studies. This is done through
- informational and introductory events held by the Institute for Compound Studies for prospective and first-year students,
- general study advising by the Institute for Collaborative Studies and the student office of the Hochschule Niederrhein,
- advice by the Coordination Office for Collaborative Studies at the Institute for Collaborative Studies and by the Examination Office of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences,
- supervision and guidance in the studies by the academic staff member responsible for the Career-Integrated Degree Programmes at the faculty and by the coordinator and programme director at the Hochschule Niederrhein, who also advises on all examination matters,
- the lecturers in the individual modules.
Special benefits of the Degree programme
- Combination of distance learning elements (extensive written study materials, online learning and communication platform) with attendance phases (exercises, learning checks, supervision, contacts)
- Combination of studies in business law with a professional activity, i.e. no loss of earnings for the students
- Coverage of all relevant sub-disciplines of business law with a focus on contract drafting
- Teaching of important personnel and social key competencies
- Standard time to degree and semester organization are tailored to the special conditions of career-integrated students. Individual determination of the study speed according to professional and other requirements is possible.
- Utilization of the special know-how of the Institute for Compound Studies NRW (study program coordination, media development and design, evaluation).
