Education

The Master of Laws in European Social Security is a specialised, highly research-based programme dealing with the area of social security in its broadest sense. The programme provides an in-depth study of social security and social protection from a legal, economic, sociological, administrative and philosophical perspective. In addition to being multidisciplinary, the programme contains both a strong comparative element and a multinational element. It focuses on the provision of social protection rights across Europe. This gives its participants the opportunity to understand the many different approaches to social security that coexist in Europe. At the same time, it provides students with a better understanding of their own national system. The programme also includes the careful study of the role of international bodies such as the European Union.

The Master of Laws in European Social Security is an advanced Master's programme. You can follow this programme on a full-time or part-time basis.

Profile

The ideal prospective student should have a good knowledge of his/her own social security system and its reality. He/she should be able to formulate research questions and to carry out corresponding research in the area of social security. He/she should have an open attitude toward other scientific disciplines and other national social security systems.

While all prospective students should have knowledge of social security acquired by study, those with practical experience, e.g. experience working in a social security administration, are particularly valued. Some previous exposure to European social affairs and/or foreign social security systems is also helpful.

The prospective student should have good English language skills. There are no special arrangements made for improving language skills during the programme.

The prospective student should be able to formulate research questions and carry out corresponding research in the area of social security. He/she should be able to collect relevant information about his/her own social security system and evaluate this information as to its quality and relevance for the research questions being dealt with. He/she should be able to critically evaluate the national social security research of others within his/her mono-discipline. He/she should have the ability to form an opinion about social security issues, motivate it with scientific arguments and formulate it in a debate with others.
The student is expected to have an open attitude toward other scientific disciplines and toward other national social security systems. The required level of initial attainment should be reached in a social security-relevant scientific discipline. Very occasionally, students with an academic education in other disciplines may be admitted the programme. This will only be the case when the concerned person shows long-term experience in the area of social security as well as an ability to carry out research relevant to social security.

For specific admission requirements, click on the desired programme in the 'Choose your courses of study' section.

Objectives

The programme is a specialised, research-based education, dealing with the area of social security in its broadest sense. It provides the students with an in-depth study of social protection from a legal, economic, sociological and administrative perspective, confronting the students with the most recent research and several national backgrounds, thus stimulating individual reflection.

At the end of the programme the participants should be able to :
- design and carry out individual research projects in the area of social security, as well as participate in the conception, execution and supervision of team research;
- put their national/monodisciplinary approach in a broader perspective by including other disciplines and abandoning a merely national point of view;
- recognise national and temporal contingencies from essential social security boundaries;
- take up unfashionable positions if their research so demands;
- take part in and position themselves on a good multidisciplinary and comparative basis in any debate concerning social security issues;
- deliver results and opinions that contribute to the advancement of social security related research in Europe;
- translate research results to the broader public;
- make research results relevant for policy making; be able to translate questions from policy-makers into research questions, deal with them and explain the results to policy-makers.

After graduation

Graduates are professionally active in areas related to social security (social or private insurance institutions, social administrations, social and economic policy-makers).

(Inter)national

As a student in the programme, you become part of an international network of experts in the field of social security. Students come from several European countries and beyond and have different academic backgrounds. The faculty consists of a group of renowned professors in various disciplines coming from other European universities.

Contact

Faculty of Law
Institute of Social Law
Blijde Inkomststraat 17 box 3409
3000 LEUVEN, Belgium
tel. + 32 16 32 54 16
fax + 32 16 32 54 19
danny.pieters@law.kuleuven.be

General
Study Advice Service
Naamsestraat 80 bus 5415
3000 Leuven
To contact us please complete the contact form on our website.

Useful links

Visit this programme's website.