Erasmus Plus project STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION, KA203, https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/apply-for-higher-education-partnership-funding
TITLE: New Quality in Education for Gender Equality – Strategic Partnership for the Development of a Master’s Study Program LAW AND GENDER
Acronime: LAWGEM
Duration – 36 months
Project Summary:
CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
The overall objective is to contribute to socially inclusive higher education and to improve the quality of legal education accross Europe and elsewhere. The necessity of a gender-sensitive approach in legal education emerges from the highest value and normative standards of modern international and national law. Educating students of law (future lawyers, judges, prosecutors, administrative workers, members of parliament and government bodies) in a gender-sensitive manner means to really invest in better legislation and a more correct interpretation and implementation of law. It also means investing in a better future by sensitising judges in particular, but also legal professionals in all fields of legal practice. This serves the fulfillment of the essence of contemporary law – equal respect and protection for all individuals. The aims of the programme shall be to offer adequate knowledge and skills for the work on both legal and non-legal jobs related to gender mainstreaming in all relevant fields of politics, law making and law implementation in judiciary, decision making in the state administration, state/regional/local policy making related to economics, social security, media, culture, and concerning the academic gender sensitive knowledge production in the fields of law, as well as social sciences and humanities.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
Objectives of the project are, firstly, to build a fully innovative systemic curriculum of master legal studies, which will encompass all relevant fields of legal education and legal practice, as well as non-legal relevant fields such as the economic analysis of law, criminology, and social-psychological fields of research and knowledge. Secondly, to create a textbook and learning materials relevant for the Law and Gender master programme; thirdly, to create a legal clinic; and fourthly, to create an on-line platform for life-long learning (on-line platform for LLL) on gender issues, which would contribute to raising awareness on gender equality and enhancing the knowledge and practice necessary to combat all forms of gender based discrimination, violence and sexual harassment.
In the preparatory phase all Consortium members have agreed that the proposed draft curriculum for the Law and Gender programme present the basis of the future joint efforts oriented towards building the same or similar curriculums and particular syllabi, i.e. creating, accrediting and implementing this master study programme. Only the Consortium member from Germany, the Saarland University Europa Institut, will not create and implement the whole master programme, due to the fact that the way their studies are organised would not allow it, but will take part in innovating some of the already existing courses in their LLM programme, as well as including some of the newly created syllabi through our common building process into their existing LLM programme. The Saarland University will therefore also take responsibility for an another innovative outcome – creating the publication which will be used by all Consortium members in the future implementation of the Law and Gender master programme.
This Consortium has gathered with the specific objective to contribute to gender mainstreaming of legal studies through building the LAW AND GENDER masters study programme together, which would then be used by all Consortium members in the exact same or similar form. This specific aim is in line with Bologna requirements related to the internationalisation and mobility enhancement in the European education framework; it is also in line with all post-WWII international strategic and normative documents related to the need for gender mainstreaming in higher education (which is still far from its implementation), as well as with the Europe 2020 Strategy for enhancing competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of social market economy through educating law students – the future judges, attornies, and policy makers.
This pioneering and fully innovative academic undertaking will certainly contribute to gender sensitive reconstructioning of all relevant fields of the legal knowledge production. This whole process and the end result will be stimulating to the general improvement of higher education and legal studies in all Consortium members, as well as in the EU.
The end results of this project, i.e. of implementing the LAW AND GENDER master programme shall be to offer in-depth knowledge of reasons for gender mainstreaming in law, economics, politics and policies of the European Union and its member states and accession countries. It will also provide insights into relations between the EU and other international organisations and states leading to the creation of gender sensitive strategic and normative documents, with a particular emphasis on introducing and developing gender sensitive legal studies at EU universities and accession countries` universities, and especially in Serbia. The end result of this programme shall also be the expansion of practical knowledge related to the implementation of gender equality through Legal Clinics focused on anti-discrimination and combating gender based violence and sexual harassment. Another one will be the on-line life-long learning portal for enhancing knowledge, value systems, and awareness on gender equality issues, and a publication with chapters on all relevant fields of legal studies, based on a gender sensitive approach. Upon the successful completion of this program, a student acquires the academic master degree: Master of Laws in the field of LAW AND GENDER. A precise description of all fulfilled requirements prescribed by the master programme, as well as information on whether the student had previously completed undergraduate academic studies at a faculty of law, or at any other faculty of social sciences/humanities, shall be outlined in the Diploma Supplement/Transcript of Records. The duration of the program shall be one year, consisting of two semesters, credited with 60 ECTS.
LONGER TERM BENEFITS
The Law and Gender master programme, its implementation and sustainability are all based on high academic quality, and also on the fact that it complements the labour market`s need for highly productive and socially inclusive work conditions, rising from diminishing gender inequalities, all of which will contribute to enhancing the quality of legal studies and higher education. It will contribute to the establishment of a long-lasting network and cooperation between the Consortium members, as well as to the enhancement of the process of internationalization of higher education in the EU and Serbia (as an accession country). It will enable using a common procedure when applying for Joint Master programmes in the future, which presupposes master study programmes that have already been accredited. The on-line platform will raise awareness of the importance of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in legal and higher education Europe-wide. Normative and strategic ideas of the post-WWII international law and policy making will finally start to be implemented. Widening the scope of gender sensitive master study programmes at all European law schools and further on in all fields of social studies and humanities will be the real innovation, the real revolutionary step forward related to the quality of higher education, and also related to civilisational requirements – equal concern for each individual, gender equality and full implementation of the rule of law.
