Frequently Asked  Questions
For further information contact Professor Jürgen Bröhmer at j.brohmer@murdoch.edu.au 

Scholarships/Financial Help:

As per the Macerata Program Info (reproduced below), here are the two links for the relevant information in that regard:

https://www.studyassist.gov.au/help-loans/os-help-loans-and-overseas-study

https://www.cisaustralia.com.au/financial-information/os-help/

The funds available from the government cover travel expenses or whatever else needs to be covered. To my knowledge you have access to a sufficiently high lump sum. For more information check conditions available there. If necessary I will organize more information in due course.

Units offered

Three regular elective units will be on offer:

LLB311 - International Trade Law

LLB325 - Comparative Contract Law

LLB342 - European Union Law

The face-to-face teaching happens intensively in Macerata. The units are taught by the program coordinator, Professor Jürgen Bröhmer (LLB311), and my Italian colleagues, Professor Ermanno Calzolaio (LLB325) and Professor Gianluca Contaldi (LLB342).

Units are taught in 4 hour blocks in the mornings and afternoons, Monday through Thursday, with a long weekend for some rest, reading or sightseeing. There will be three smaller exams in the last week and a reserach paper to be written upon return to Perth in Semester 2, 2024.

Language Barrier

We are offering our units in English. Language barrier can only exist in your private dealings in Macerata, in Italy or wherever else you might be.

How many units must one do?

There is no requirement to do all units. In the past (pre Covid), most students did all three, a fair number did two and occasionally there was a student who did one unit. However, in order to run the program, I need a sufficient numer of enrolments. Example: a group of 25+ students would be a sufficieniently sized cohort on a "full-time" basis, i.e., with three units, but it would not be sufficient, if most of the 25 did only one or two units. Because most students in the past did all three units, this never arose as a problem. 

In short: For my quest to make numbers and thus have a chance to make the program happen, a three unit student counts as one, a two-unit student as 0.67 and a one-unit student as 0.34

However, if you are getting financial help (see links above) then you must in principle take all three units, notwithstanding the fact that there is a bit of uncertainty around that requirement. Be that as it may, if you do need to get financial help, taking less than three units will require getting confirmation to avoid problems and create certainty for you. 

Will this affect graduating times?

That depends on the student. Three units would be on offer. The dominant research assignments for these units will have to be written during the semester following the program, i.e., Semester 2, 2023. That means you cannot take another full load. But you can take a full load in Semester 1 (= four units), do three units in Macerata and take a fourth unit in Semester 2, and perhaps even another one (subject to advisability and the Academic Chair's approval). In other words: there is no reason to assume it would slow your progress and their might be an opportunity for some slight fast-tracking.

The Geneva Human Rights Program

Is just a wonderful program! Fullstop!!!

The Geneva program runs during the same time period, hence only one of these can be undertaken in any one year.

Do both programs  if you can. If you cannot, you have a difficult choice to make and whichever program you choose will be a winning choice, but the one you did not choose will forever be lost for you. In other words, if you can only do one of these it is as much a winning choice as it is a losing choice. Unavoidable. But it will always be a good choice.

If your heart is with all matters human rights, refugees and the like you must choose Geneva. Absolutely top and nowhere will you get a program better than that. If you are more international, commercial, trade and business inclined you might consider Macerata. If you you want to experience a medieval Italian city in beautiful surroundings while at the same time being totally immersed in one of the oldest Universities of the world (founded and in operation, including the Law School, since 1290) you must consider Macerata.

How is the travel organized? Do we travel and operate as one group?

1. Students are responsible for their own travel to Macerata, and students operate just as independently in Macerata (and around Macerata if they chose to go sightseeing on the weekends, or whatever they do) as they would in Perth. In the past that has meant, for example, groups of students going on bus or train to nearby cities such as Bologna, Florence, Ancona or what have you, on the weekends. Students have also grouped together and rented a car or even organized a bus (which in one instance as I now remember had an engine breakdown or some such on the road) for such purposes.

2. If a student wanted to travel with another student they would have to organize that with that other person.

Can students from other Law Schools join the program?

Yes: We have had students from other Law Schools every year. Mostly from interstate, but also from other Perth Law Schools. That is not a problem at all. Hence you can forward this info/link to students if you know any that are interested.

What these students must do is receive authorization for cross-institutional enrollment from their University/Law School and off they go! ...

... if we have room for them.

As soon as I know whether we will have the go-ahead from our University I had planned to also market to other Universities because it is good for the program to have other students on board if at all possible. The marketing for this has to start afresh for those Universities as well and I have no idea how that will pan out.

What if we have more applicants than we can accommodate in Macerata?

That is a good question. There are some University set minimum GPA requirements. They are not overly arduous and make sense insofar as below that threshold it just might not be such a great idea to go. It is great fun, no doubt, but also academically intensive. If that does not do the trick I would have to think more. Unit enrollment would play a role (as in students with the intention of doing all three units would get precedence over the ones doing two units and one unit). What would also play a role would be whether a student still had enough left in their studies to go next year as opposed to this being the last possibility to go. I would want to do the selection criteria together with the group. I am in the business of creating opportunity and not taking any away and I personally dislike pseudo-objective exclusionary rules based on a number. For example, I'd rather have somebody there with a slightly lower GPA who spreads good news and a laugh than a genius kill joy (not that geniuses are or tend to be kill joys; the kill-joy ration is evenly spread over all segments of the population in the world). What people do extra-curricularly would also be important for me.

It is, of course, a given that football (soccer) fans and those that can pass an oral exam on 1.FC Kaiserslautern will automatically qualify.*

*[That last sentence is not to be taken seriously! I repeat: I was just kidding! Notwithstanding the fact that being in a stadium of 50.000 in a city of just barely 100.000 can be epic. It can also amount to great pain and suffering. The latter usually prevails.]