Each academic year, Tilburg Law School re-establishes the rules that determine how education is organised, how exams are administered, and what rights and obligations students have. These rules are laid down in the Education and Examination Regulations, the EER. Although this document forms the legal foundation of academic education, its contents remain abstract or unknown to many students.
What is the EER?
The EER is a legally required document that every Dutch university must establish annually on the basis of the Dutch Higher Education and Academic Research Act (hereafter: HEARA). A separate document is created for each program, regulating how the curriculum is structured, which courses are compulsory, how many exam opportunities students receive per academic year, under what conditions students may retake a course, how resit regulations function, and much more. In short, the EER is the document that determines what students can in practice expect from their programs and examinations.
Because the EER is established anew each year, changes can be implemented annually. These changes are not always far-reaching; sometimes they concern minor technical adjustments, but they can also have substantial consequences for study progress, the flexibility of the program, or the assessment load experienced by students. It is precisely for this reason that it is important for students to know which changes are forthcoming and on what grounds they are proposed.
The role of the Program Committee and the Faculty Council
The HEARA provides for two bodies that are involved on behalf of students in the establishment of the EER, each with its own authority.
The Program Committee (hereinafter: PC) is a mixed body of students and lecturers. Each program is represented by one lecturer and one student representative and advises on education-related matters of the program. With regard to EER changes, a PC member votes only on their own program, and thus not on changes concerning other programs. The other body, the Faculty Council (hereinafter: FC), likewise consists of students and lecturers (seven members each) and meets on, among other things, faculty policy. These bodies alternately have advisory and consent rights.
Advisory right:
Advisory right means that the faculty board must request advice on a particular matter. The faculty board is not obliged to follow this advice.
Right of consent:
The right of consent means that the PC or the FC must give approval on a particular matter or change. Without this approval, the change cannot be implemented.
With regard to subjects concerning exams and examinations, such as the number of exam opportunities and the validity period of successfully completed exams, the FC has the right of consent. The PC has advisory rights in this respect. Concerning the content and quality of programs, the PC has the right of
consent, including matters such as methods of evaluation, the organisation of practical exercises, and study load.
What can students do with this?
There is direct benefit for every student who wishes to know their rights. The EER contains not only obligations but also entitlements: the right to a certain number of resits, the period within which exam results must be announced, the possibility to appeal a grade, and the criteria for admission to a master’s program.
In addition, through the PC and the FC, the EER is a document over which students can exert influence. Students who wish to inform themselves about the specific changes proposed for the upcoming academic year can contact the PC and FC of Vrijspraak. Anyone who has questions, wishes to provide comments, or wants to participate in the democratic process within the faculty is warmly invited to get in touch. The FC does not have advisory rights on program content, but it may still provide advice on it.
Proposed changes in the EER 2026–2027
Note: these changes are not yet final and may still be adjusted.
International Master’s Programs
Master International Business Law
There are a number of proposed changes for the Master International Business Law. First of all, the course International Commercial Law will become compulsory; this was previously an elective. As a result, the compulsory course Banking and Securities Regulation will become an elective. In addition, these two courses will switch semesters: the course ICL will move to the autumn semester and the course BSR to the spring semester. Students up to and including the academic year 2025–2026 will receive one additional year to complete the old program.
Master International Business Taxation
For the Master International Business Taxation, the thesis will also be reduced from 18 ECTS to 12 ECTS. In addition, a new elective will be added: Corporate Governance and Sustainability. Students up to and including the academic year 2025–2026 may still complete the 18 ECTS thesis up to one year after their start.
Master International and European Law
The Master International and European Law will undergo a series of substantive and structural adjustments from next year onwards. Students can choose between three renewed tracks or a freely composed trajectory. Each track consists of four compulsory courses and two electives, with which the program aims to create more coherence and depth within the specialisations.
The track Law and World-Ordering focuses on the historical, theoretical and geopolitical dimensions of international law. The track Human Rights and Human Security delves into human rights, migration and international security. The track Environmental Law & Justice offers a strong substantive profile at the intersection of environment, law and market regulation. Students who prefer to map out their own route
can, through the free track, select four electives from a broad list of international, European and interdisciplinary courses.
In addition, students will be given more flexibility in their electives. They can choose from recommended track courses, courses from other tracks or, with permission from the Academic Director, a course from another Tilburg Law School master that fits their study profile. This freedom of choice is intended to help students better tailor their program to their academic and professional ambitions, while the program simultaneously safeguards coherence within the master.
Furthermore, two courses will be removed from the curriculum: Risk in the EU and Rule of Law in the EU. For students who still need to complete these courses, an additional assessment opportunity will be offered in 2026–2027, depending on whether the course was compulsory or an elective.
Master’s Program Labour Law and Employment Relations (LLER)
The Master Labour Law and Employment Relations will be adjusted in several respects from the academic year 2026–2027 onwards. These changes mainly concern the curriculum and stem from two developments: the revision of several HRM courses and the introduction of a hybrid form of education within the program.
Part of the LLER courses overlaps with the Human Resource Management program, which has recently been renewed. As a result, two courses will disappear from the LLER curriculum: Active Aging at Work and Inclusive HRM. The content of the latter course will be incorporated into a new, more extensive 6-ECTS course Foundations of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. At the same time, the need to distinguish between different categories of electives within the elective space will disappear, making the structure of the program more transparent.
In addition, LLER will be offered in hybrid form from 2026–2027 onwards. To support this new form of education, two courses from the hybrid International Business Law program will be added to the elective space: Legal Negotiation Workshop and Corporate Governance and Sustainability. Many LLER students already chose these courses as free electives, making their integration into the official curriculum a logical step.
The program will continue to consist of four compulsory core courses in the field of national, European and international labour law, supplemented by at least 12 ECTS of electives. Students can choose from a broad list of labour law, socio-legal and HRM-related courses.
Because the changes mainly concern expansions and no compulsory course is being removed, a transitional arrangement is not considered necessary. Students have already been informed that Inclusive HRM and Active Aging at Work will be offered for the last time this semester.
Public Administration
Bachelor Public Administration
Within the Bachelor Public Administration, a number of changes will take place. First of all, the course Practical Orientation Public Administration will be expanded from 6 ECTS to 12 ECTS and will be
moved to year 3 instead of year 2. As a result, the course History of Public Institutions will be reduced from 6 ECTS to 3 ECTS. In addition, the Research Series BO1–BO3 will be reorganised with a reduction in the number of credits from 18 ECTS to 15 ECTS, whereby BO1 will become 9 ECTS and will substantively become a combination of the current BO1 and BO2, and BO2 will become the current BO3.
Secondly, a compulsory minor of 18 ECTS will be introduced in the second year, which will replace the elective courses of 12 ECTS and Atelier Consultancy & Policy Advising of 6 ECTS.
In addition, the course Philosophy of Law B will be replaced by the course Philosophy of Law A. Written Skills will also receive a new name, namely Critical Text Analysis, due to a changed focus as a result of the use of AI. The course Media, ICT & Policy will be moved to year 1 and will take place in the fourth block.
These changes will, when the plans become final, be implemented in phases: year 1 in 2026–2027, year 2 in 2027–2028 and year 3 in 2028–2029. This way, students who have already started their studies can still follow the program as it was originally introduced. In addition, extra resits will be offered for the old versions of BO1, BO2 and History of Public Institutions.
Pre-Master Public Administration
It has been proposed to shorten the pre-master Public Governance: from the current year-long program of 60 ECTS to a compact trajectory of 30 ECTS. A comparison with other Dutch pre-masters shows that almost all comparable programs comprise only 30 ECTS. Because the number of pre-master students in Public Administration has been declining nationwide for several years, the program aims to remain competitive by modernising the program and making it more accessible. According to the program, a shortened version also provides sufficient preparation for successful participation in the master’s program.
The new program will be offered entirely in the first semester starting from the academic year 2026–2027. Students who complete this trajectory can therefore already enter the Master Public Governance in February. The core of the program consists of courses such as Government Management, Policy Analysis for Public Administration, Introduction to European Governance and Governance in the Rule of Law State. In addition, the course Qualitative Research for pre-masters will be introduced, which builds on the current course Public Administration Research 2 and is partly taught in block 1 and partly in block 2.
Master Public Governance & Strategy
The Master Public Governance & Strategy will introduce a fourth track in 2026–2027, Governance of Digital Transformation, developed in collaboration with the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. This new track focuses on the societal and organisational impact of digitalisation and consists of three compulsory courses: Introduction to Digital Transformation, Managing Digital Transformation and a practice-oriented Capstone assignment.
In addition, the structure of the program will be tightened. Students must from now on take at least two core courses: one from their own track and one as an elective from one of the other tracks. With this, the program aims to create a more level playing field between the different specialisations and to achieve a more balanced distribution of students across courses. The current situation, in which some track courses
are followed by only a handful of students, will thereby be counteracted. At the same time, this change should help students feel less overwhelmed by the large number of electives and encourage them to seek substantive depth within the program.
The curriculum will continue to consist of a number of fixed components, such as Good Governance, Public Strategy and Leadership, the Governance Clinic and the master’s thesis. In addition, students choose one of four tracks: Governance of Social and Environmental Transitions, Governance of Justice, Security and Risk, Governance and Politics of Democratic Innovation or the new Governance of Digital Transformation. Within each track, they take one compulsory core course, one track-related elective and one free elective, for which (with permission from the program Director) a course outside the pre-approved list or an internship may also be chosen.
Finally, students may only request permission to write their master’s thesis in Dutch if the subject genuinely justifies it. This permission must be granted by the Academic Director. If permission is granted, the student must include an English summary in the thesis. The oral defence is always in English, regardless of the language of writing.
Because the changes mainly concern the structure of the program and not the content of courses already completed, the program does not consider a transitional arrangement necessary.
Tax Law
Bachelor Fiscal Law
A number of changes will also be implemented within the Bachelor Fiscal Law. First of all, the courses Value Added Tax and Fundamentals of Corporate Taxation will be moved from year 3 to year 2. As a result, the course Formal Tax Law will be moved from year 2 to year 3. The course Fundamentals of EIBR will be moved from the autumn semester to the spring semester in year 3.
Secondly, new electives will become available in year 3, of which students can choose 2 out of 3 courses. These courses are: Green Taxation, Sustainable Tax Systems and Contract Law. This means that the course World’s Legal Systems will be removed.
In order to manage this properly, extra resits will be made available for students of the courses Formal Tax Law and Fundamentals of EIBR. No transition is considered necessary for the other courses.
Master Tax Law
Within the Master Fiscal Law, several changes will take place. First of all, the credits for the master’s thesis will be reduced from 18 ECTS to 12 ECTS. This creates room for the addition of one extra elective of 6 ECTS. Students up to and including the academic year 2025–2026 may graduate until 31 August 2028 with an 18 ECTS master’s thesis.
Dutch Law
Minor Law and a Sustainable Future
The minor Law and a Sustainable Future will receive a substantive renewal. The course Litigation for a Sustainable Future, which has been part of the program for the past four years, will be replaced by a new English-taught course: Foundations of Environmental Law. The program has chosen this because the current course in practice presupposes a great deal of prior knowledge, while students are often hardly introduced to environmental law. This is not surprising, as this subject is absent from the bachelor curriculum for both Dutch-taught and English-taught students, including exchange students.
Master Dutch Law
Within the Master Law, Criminal Law track, the course International Criminal Law will be added as a compulsory elective, which students can therefore choose as one of the required electives.
Business Law
Within the Bachelor and Master Business Law, a number of name changes will take place. Business Law will be renamed Ondernemingsrecht, which will align with the first-year course Inleiding Ondernemingsrecht, which will take on more of a Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code approach. The master’s course Capita Selecta Ondernemingsrecht will be renamed Verdiepend Ondernemingsrecht. These three courses will thereby complement and deepen each other. Currently, the course Business Law (to become: Ondernemingsrecht) is the entry requirement for starting the Master Corporate Law; this entry requirement will be replaced by completing Inleiding Ondernemingsrecht. In addition, the third-year bachelor course Praktijkvaardigheden Ondernemingsrecht will be renamed Oefenrechtbank Ondernemingsrecht. Finally, the master will gain an additional option for one of the compulsory electives, namely the course Employment Contract Law. This is an extra elective in the spring semester.
In addition, within the Pre-master Business Law, the course Rechtsfilosofie A (spring semester) will be replaced by the course Ondernemingsethiek (fall semester). This equalises the study load of the semesters and allows students to obtain 30 ECTS in both semesters. For students who started before 1 September 2024 and have not yet passed Rechtsfilosofie A, the possibility remains to take Ondernemingsethiek instead.
Do you have any questions or comments about these proposed changes or the EER itself? Then please contact the Faculty Council via vrijspraakfaculteitsraad@magisterjft.nl, the program Committee member of your respective program, or Student Party Vrijspraak via vrijspraak@magisterjft.nl
