General organization, spirit and structure

The courses take place in the newly completed Academy building located in the Peace Palace in The Hague, are given in English or French, and are simultaneously translated into the other language.

Since the Academy is not an university, it does not have a permanent teaching staff. Rather it calls upon outstanding academics, diplomats and practitioners who come from institutions all over the world. By inviting a wide variety of lecturers, the Curatorium seeks to be as open as possible and to benefit from the widest variety of viewpoints and ideas.

The courses extend over a period of six weeks in July and August each year. The first three weeks devoted to public international law, the following three weeks to private international law.

Structure of the summer program

Each session comprises a general course and special courses.

The general course is given over a period of three weeks (at least 15 hours) in public international law and two weeks (at least ten hours) in private international law.

General courses (morning), which are presented by experienced and recognized lecturers , address in depth the trends and main features of international law and offers students a comprehensive view of their subject.

Special course (morning), which last for 5 hours during one week, are devoted to specific questions or single topics, and are given by lecturers who have made these subjects an important part of their research.

Seminar (afternoon), each lecturer conducts a seminar on the subject of his lecture. These seminars allow the students a greater opportunity to ask question or to request additional information on the course and to participate in discussions of particular issues raised during the lectures.

Directed studies (afternoon), for highly qualified students who wish to study for the examination leading to the award of the Academy's diploma (or who wish to participate in intensive seminars on questions of private and public international law, even if they do not intend to sit for the diploma), under the direction of a professor.

At the end of the session, students who have regularly attended all the courses will receive a certificate of attendance.

The timetable of the Summer programme, is done as a student can follow all the lectures and seminar.