Department of International Law
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

Postgraduate

Overview

12.00.10 – International law. European law
Statistics confirm that in the post-Soviet territory more than a third of all Ph.D. theses in the specialty 12.00.10 "International law. European law" was defended at the Department of International Law. The Department today plays a leadership role in training of specialists in public international law at the level of candidate and doctor of sciences.
Dissertation Council on the defence of candidate’s and doctoral theses in the specialty 12.00.10. is operating at the People's Friendship University of Russia (PFUR). Scientific supervision is carried out by highly qualified specialists, mainly doctors of sciences who have rich practical experience in various fields of international law with two of them being experts of the United Nations. According to Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) lecturers of the Department are having high rankings. Lecturers and Ph.D. students are publishing their woks in foreign journals, i.a. in journals included in the database Scopus.
PFUR Law Institute is editing journal included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission – “Bulletin of PFUR. Series: legal sciences” where scientific articles are quarterly published. Annual International Congress commemorating Professor I. Blischenko gives students an excellent opportunity to test the results of his scientific research and professional representative before the audience, as well as publish them.
Continuity and commitment to the best scientific traditions allows the Department to conduct research in all key sectors of public international law, such as: international law of the sea, international air law and international space law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law (universal and regional level), diplomatic and consular law, international environmental law, all areas of international economic law, as well as on complex conceptual aspects of interstate cooperation.
On an average about 70 candidates in various forms of research are studying at the Department. Among these candidates a significant part is made up by foreign Ph.D. students from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. The number of candidates from China, the CIS and Western Europe has increased recently. The program of candidate’s examination is designed in such a way that its successful familiarization guarantees students a deep knowledge of the doctrine and practice of international law (“case law”).
Ph.D. students must pass a series of colloquia in order to be admitted to take the examination. The teaching of contemporary issues of international law and special courses having applied nature is provided on a high professional level. The training of Ph.D. students is planned in such a way that students have an opportunity to test their scientific achievements in international conferences held both in Russia and abroad. Ph.D. students have a possibility to test their research in frames of the Space Law Research Centre and the Research Centre on International legal problems of Africa. The Department owns a unique and the only one in the CIS library on space law.
Dissertations in English are successfully defended at the Department of International Law.  
The Department provides the educational research practice, including in the form of involving Ph.D. students to conduct workshops at Bachelor and Master level with the assistance and supervision of scientific supervisors.
The system of control which includes holding three attestations during training, helps to ensure quality and high degree thesis defence.
A tradition that Ph.D. students, both Russians and foreigners, are regarded as full members of the Department through the whole period of their study, has been developed at the Department. Majority of them are involved in participation in a variety of scientific research projects, including research grants. The Department maintains close relationship with its graduates, who are often invited to give lectures in frames of Master’s Programs realised by the Department, including providing lectures in English.