Module Reviews - Fall Semester

Choosing modules is a massive part of university life, and can even influence your choice of destination for a year abroad. With that in mind, I thought it might be useful to share my own thoughts and experiences relating to the modules I studied at the University of Mannheim last semester. This will be most relevant to Law students, or those of you interested in doing Law modules, but it might also provide a general overview of how courses at the university are structured and assessed.

Comparative Law 1: European Legal Traditions

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand

Method of teaching: Lectures, one a week

Method of examination: Oral exam (for exchange students)

Additional comments: This course provides a really good background/introduction to the subject of comparative law. The lecturer is very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject, which makes lectures really engaging. He particularly encourages students to contribute their own thoughts and experiences, and to discuss differences between the legal systems of different countries. There is occassional additional reading, which I would really recommend doing to excel in the exam, but otherwise no preparation or follow-up to the lectures is needed. The exam itself is a format which I wasn't familiar with, but it's absolutely nothing to worry about! It takes on the style of a discussion in a small group, and you're encouraged and prompted if needed, rather than deliberately tripped up and caught out. The only slight downside to this course is that occassionally the nature of discussion in class is very general and somewhat on a tanget to the course material.

Overall rating: 4/5

Cross-Border Litigation and Arbitration

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann

Method of teaching: Lectures, one double-period a week

Method of examination: Written exam

Additional comments: This course is really well-organised and engaging. The lecturer prints out the slides in advance, alongside any additional reading materials or resources that she refers to during the lecture and the relevant treaties and agreements. The course was very clearly-structured, as were the lectures themselves. Though no work was required outside of class, I found it useful to read around the subject and occassionally there were examples or exercises that we were asked to think about between sessions. In terms of course content, no previous knowledge is required, but the material covered was quite technical at times. The exam was short and I found the depth of answer needed was much less than at my university at home. In order to do well though, you needed to go beyond just regurgitating the relevant treaty article or provision (which you were allowed to take into the exam with you) so you need to be comfortable with the materials and the content of the course!

Overall rating: 4/5

Energy Law and Policy

Lecturer: Marija Turkovic

Method of teaching: Lectures, one a week

Method of examination: Written exam and group assessment

Additional comments: This course provides a good general introduction to the topic of energy markets, both in terms of the legal aspect and general policy considerations and how the markets actually operate. Initially, it was somewhat difficult to follow given my lack of previous understanding of the topic, but as we progressed through the course I became much more comfortable with the context and the materials became clearer. This was especially true after having completed the group assessment, which involved researching a specific area, producing a short report summarising that research, and then presenting the report to the class. Whilst the in-depth knowledge gained from completing this research was not needed directly for the end exam, it really helped me to understand some of the key concepts and context more easily. The exam itself consisted of questions of increasing length and depth, from gap-fill exercises to more open-ended questions. Relevant treaty provisions were permitted in the exam. The students on the course were not all Law students, so the legal content covered wasn't particularly specialised, though I think a legal background would definitely be helpful for this course. No additional work outside of class was required other than preparing for the group assessment.

Overall rating: 3/5

External Relations Law of the European Union

Lecturer: Marija Turkovic

Method of teaching: Lectures, one a week

Method of examination: Written exam and group assessment

Additional comments: This course had a very similar structure and style to the Energy course, being conducted by the same lecturer, but I found it easier to follow given my existing knowledge of the EU and EU law. The group assessment and exam were very similar in nature, and again I felt that at times the course could have been structured more clearly. The lecturer did use really good examples and case studies to illustrate the content, which I found particularly useful. No additional work outside of class was required other than preparing for the group assessment.

Overall rating: 3/5

Final thoughts

In general, I have found that the teaching style is much more relaxed than at the University of Sheffield. Much less work is required outside of class, though reading around the subejct and doing recommended readings is extremely helpful, and the shorter nature of the exams means that you don't need to go into as much depth as you might be used to at your home university. Instead, the difficulty lies in being able to answer questions succintly, and ensuring that you have understood the course content fully. All of my lecturers so far have used PowerPoints, and these were made available to us on the online learning platform, ILIAS. Unlike at home, however, this was only after the lecture had taken place, so you can't look ahead at the slides before attending the lecture.

A final useful thing to know is that you aren't automatically registered for the exam just by being enrolled on the course. You have to register separately for all of your exams closer to the time, or you won't be able to sit them and receive credit for having completed the course!

I hope this is useful in giving a general indication of how the courses run at the university, or even more specifically for those of you studying Law.