Sabahat Khan LLM International Commercial Law (Dubai)
LLM International Commercial Law (Dubai) student Sabahat Khan says she enjoyed the academically rich and involved teaching on the LLM. We found out more about her experience as an LLM student at the University of Birmingham in Dubai.
What were the main differences between studying in your home country of India and studying at Birmingham Law School in Dubai? What skills have you developed during the LLM?
There’s a major difference in the way they teach in India because it’s mainly theory we looked at and the professors teach you modules just based on theory. When I came here, I wasn’t sure how to do research, how to write an essay question and how to do my own research. The whole LLM programme is designed in such a way that it’s very focused and you get to learn a lot in a short amount of time.
I remember on my first day I was sat in the lecture room and there was a module on global trade. I had no clue about the subject, but I was so happy and knew I was doing something right because the kind of knowledge I got from that two hour lecture, it was really rich!
It’s not a one-sided teaching style. There’s talking with your professors, the discussions in your group, sharing your thoughts on a particular subject and listening to those thoughts. All of that is involved and this helps you develop the way you think so when you want to dig deep into a subject and go to research centres, you can sift through the information. I think that’s the most important part because there’s a plethora of information out there and you wouldn’t really know what to look at.
But the way the modules are designed, it’s so focused, that you learn exactly how to sift through information and access focused research on a particular module. I’m very happy with the modules I chose and got a very academically rich experience throughout the whole semester.
Image credit: Zaid Mahvy
What support did you receive from University of Birmingham
in Dubai and Birmingham Law School or your future career?
As I finished semester two the University arranged for an internship with Hamdan AlShamsi law firm. I joined the corporate team for a month and I got to know a lot of things, like what the day-to-day operations look like and what are the real client issues that come through. This was different to the modules and what I learnt there; it was a different experience altogether. You’re there with the experts sitting in for a month and helping them with a lot of things. I think that was quite enriching.
We also have other opportunities emailed to us and the CEPLER helps us with these opportunities, they guide us, and they get our CVs out there so you can get shortlisted and access internship opportunities.
There was also this competition held in the University where you had to put your 10,000 or 15,000 word research dissertation into an image with just 200 words about your image. The challenge is that it should be understood by a layman who doesn’t have any knowledge about your research topic. I found that so interesting and I’d never heard of this concept before in my academic career.
Find out more about our LLM International Commerical Law programme at the University of Birmingham in Dubai on our course pages.