The Master of International Law and International Relations is a joint program of the Faculty of Law and the School of Social Sciences and International Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

There is virtually no area of world politics in which international law does not play a role and international law cannot be fully understood without an appreciation of the political context in which it operates.
The Master of International Law & International Relations provides an interdisciplinary study program for students with backgrounds in law, the social sciences or humanities who are interested in a career in international law and international relations. It provides students with a strong theoretical and practical understanding of the international legal system, the workings of international politics and their effect on each other. Not all courses are necessarily available in any one year.

This program does not lead to a professional qualification for legal practice.

The objectives of the program are:

The MILIR may be taken full-time in two semesters or part-time in a minimum of three semesters. A total of 48 units of credit (uoc) are required for the award of the degree. Fifty percent of the program (24uoc) must be taken from appropriate courses with a POLS prefix and the remaining 24 uoc must be chosen from appropriate courses with a LAWS prefix.

ENROLMENT
The Enrolment Guide for the Master of International Law and International Relations (MILIR) can be found on the Enrolment UNSW Law website.

1. The degree of Master of International Law and International Relations may be awarded by the Council to a candidate who has satisfactorily completed a program of advanced study in law, social sciences or humanities.

Qualifications

2. (1) A candidate for the degree shall have been awarded an appropriate Bachelor's degree from the University of New South Wales or a qualification considered equivalent from another university or tertiary institution at a level acceptable to the Faculty Education Committee of the Faculty of Law (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

(2) In exceptional cases an applicant who submits evidence of such other academic and professional qualifications as may be approved by the Committee may be permitted to enrol for the degree.

(3) When the Committee is not satisfied with the qualifications submitted by an applicant the Committee may require the applicant, before being permitted to enrol, to undergo such examination or carry out such work as the Committee may prescribe.

Advanced Standing
At the discretion of UNSW Law, advanced standing may be granted for approved postgraduate courses up to 12 units of credit for the International Law component. An additional 12 units of credit may be granted for the International Relations component. Please refer to the Postgraduate Advanced Standing Rules for further information.

Enrolment and Progression

3. (1) An application to enrol as a candidate for the degree shall be lodged with the Registrar by the advertised due date.

(2) A candidate for the degree shall be required to undertake such formal courses and pass such assessment as is prescribed.

(3) The progress of a candidate shall be reviewed at least once annually by the Committee and as a result of its review the Committee may cancel enrolment or take such other action as it considers appropriate.

(4) No candidate shall be awarded the degree until the lapse of two academic semesters from the date of enrolment in the case of a full-time candidate or three semesters in the case of a part-time candidate. The maximum period of candidature shall be three academic semesters from the date of enrolment for a full-time candidate and six semesters for a part-time candidate. In special cases an extension of these times may be granted by the Committee.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html

Candidates for the MILIR must complete 48 uoc for the MILIR degree. 24 uoc must be obtained from courses with a POLS prefix and 24uoc from courses with a LAWS prefix. LAWS and POLS courses are generally 6 uoc each.

Students enrolled in the MILIR are required to complete the following two compulsory courses (12 uoc) in the first year of study:

Students who have completed LAWS3381 Public International Law or equivalent in their undergraduate law degree may be exempt from completing LAWS8180 and may be given permission to undertake another elective in lieu of this. These requests can only be approved by the Program Director, Andrew Byrnes, andrew.byrnes@unsw.edu.au.

The remaining 36 uoc required for the MILIR must be obtained from the following list of courses. Students must obtain 18 uoc (three courses) from courses with a LAWS prefix and 18 uoc (three courses) from courses with a POLS prefix. Not all electives are offered every year. The semester in which a course is offered varies every year. Other courses may be added as new courses are developed and changed.

Note: MILIR students have the option to enrol in either LAWS8423 Research Thesis or POLS5113 Thesis (but not both).

MILIR students may enrol in ONE internship program only, LAWS8052 Human Rights Internship Program or POLS5100 International Relations Internship Program (but not both).

Any requests to undertake an elective not on the below list will need to be approved by andrew.byrnes@unsw.edu.au, the program director.