College of Europe - Degrees Awarded

Degrees Awarded

1. Master in European Law (LLM)
2. Master of Arts in European Economic Studies
3. Master of Arts in European Political and Administrative Studies
4. Master of Arts in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies
5. Master of Arts in European Interdisciplinary Studies

To be awarded the current Master's degree, students must take oral and written examinations at the end of each semester, and submit a 15 ECTS (i.e. the equivalent of a quarter of an academic year) Master's Thesis in English or French.

Until the 1980s, the College only awarded its students the qualification Certificate of Advanced European Studies (the programme also then included several shorter theses), that was considered equivalent to a master's degree (although it was not a degree in the strictest sense, as the College of Europe was inspired by the tradition of French elite schools such as ENA which did not award formal degrees). The qualification, with specialization in either (European) Law, (international) Economics, or Political and Administrative Studies, corresponded to the first three master's degrees that are awarded today.

The College introduced a voluntary Diploma in the late 1980s and the Master's degree in the early 1990s. Initially the Master's degree was awarded as an autonomous, additional degree to students having obtained a high average mark (above 15/20) in their "Certificate" or "Diploma" and successfully completing a Master's thesis in the year following graduation. In the mid-1990s, the College of Europe decided to require all students to write a short Master's thesis as a requirement of its 1-year programme, and the Master's degree became the only degree issued. The old Certificate of Advanced European Studies and the newer Master's degrees are considered equivalent.