UNC Exchange & Study Abroad Programs

Each semester, second and third year students enrolled at UNC School of Law may participate in five international exchange programs:

• Universite Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in Lyon, France;
• Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
• the University of Manchester in England;
• the University of Glasgow in Scotland; and
• Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico.

Students can earn 12 -15 hours of law school PS/F credit overseas. UNC law students MUST earn a grade equivalency of a "C or better" in the grading system of the institution they are attending--we use conversion charts from the institutions for the calculations. Thus, a "C-" or a passing grade is not sufficient, but a grade of "C or better" is required. This is then recorded on the student's UNC School of Law transcript as a "PS" for Law Study Abroad for the number of credit hours taken. It does not change the GPA of the student, either up or down.

Each semester exchange program concentrates on international and comparative law. Students are only required to be fluent in the native language of instruction (Spanish) for the Iberoamericana program; the other exchange sites offer law programs in English and the language of the host country. Students may participate in a semester study abroad through another university; however, permission must be obtained from the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

Students who wish to apply for a semester exchange program should have a 3.0 GPA. If one’s GPA is less than 3.0, a student must obtain permission from the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs to participate in a semester exchange.

LL.M. Program Options

Both Universite Jean Moulin Lyon 3 and Radboud Universiteit offer LL.M. program options for interested students. For Universite Jean Moulin Lyon 3, participating students would complete one semester of the LL.M. program while on exchange; after graduation from UNC School of Law, they would be eligible to return to Lyon for one more semester to complete the LL.M. degree.

For Nijmegen, students must apply in the spring for the following fall semester, using a special LL.M. application. They spend one semester in Nijmegen and upon returning to UNC would be able to apply certain courses to the completion of the LL.M. degree. A separate fee applies to the Nijmegen LL.M. program; students should contact Director of International Programs Dr. Beverly Sizemore for more details.