Overview
The Faculty of Law is proud of the quality and standard of its postgraduate programmes, the lecturers involved, and its graduates. We strive to prepare graduates for successful careers in the various fields of legal practice and for effective participation in the academic programmes of other South African and foreign law faculties.
Approximately 76 full-time members of the Faculty and several extraordinary professors and senior lecturers participate in the different postgraduate programmes. We are also privileged to be assisted in our endeavours by some emeritus professors. More than half of the participating staff members hold doctoral degrees and their fields of expertise cover a broad spectrum of legal disciplines. Many extraordinary professors and senior lecturers are from private practice and are widely recognised as experts in their respective legal fields.
Internationalisation is important for the Faculty. It ensures we keep abreast of the latest developments in other jurisdictions and enables us to benchmark ourselves against our peers. We have international exchange agreements with various universities for postgraduate student and staff exchange opportunities.
Members of the Faculty often act as co-promoters or co-study leaders, as well as examiners and moderators, for postgraduate qualifications of South African and foreign universities. The Faculty attracts South African students and has students from SADC and other African and European countries enrolled in our postgraduate programmes.
The international standing of the Faculty of Law is evident from the range of projects involving international partners:
- Through the European Doctorate on Law and Development (EDOLAD) project, the NWU and five partners offer a joint PhD in Law and Development. Only one of the partners is from outside Europe - the NWW. The other partners are the universities of Tilburg in the Netherlands, Edinburgh In Scotland, Oslo in Norway, Deusto in Spain and Tartu in Estonia.
- The Academic Partnership for Environment and Development in Africa (APEDIA) is a joint project between the NWU, Justus Liebig University in Germany, Polytech Namibia, Makerere University in Uganda, and the Hawassa University in Ethiopia. This project aims to promote joint research and develop a master’s module on the influence of climate change on development in Africa.
We welcome applications for the different programmes we offer and strive to deliver graduates of outstanding quality with internationally recognised degrees. Applications close on 31 October of the previous academic year.
