Philipsburg:--- Studying law in Sint Maarten is now possible through a partnership of the University of St. Martin with the Open Universiteit (OU) in the Netherlands. The Open Universiteit was established in 1984 and is located in the province of Limburg. The Open Universiteit is an independent Government funded institute for distance learning at university level. The Open Universiteit offers a wide variety of programs on Bachelor and Master's level, which are all fully accredited by the Nederlands-Vlaams Accreditatie Organisatie. The Open Universiteit has partnership with several universities all over the world and the University of St. Martin is now an active participant with the Dutch Law Program.The Open Universiteit poses no restrictions or limitations, except for the adult age limitation, for the candidates. The Dutch Law Bachelor's Program at the Open Universiteit is for those who have an adequate command of the Dutch language. The majority of the study material, research, correspondence and digital lectures are in Dutch.
The tutorial program at the University of St. Martin will run simultaneously with the Dutch Law program of the Open Universiteit. Different local legal experts are recruited to instruct in this tutorial system which is cohort based. For each Dutch Law module there will be tutor classes, facilitated by a legal expert. The tutoring is for 2 hours weekly for the duration of each module.
The University of St. Martin started with the tutorials for the Dutch Law Program on Wednesday, October 3, 2012. The Honorable Judge Rene van Veen (LL.M) kicked off the tutorial program with the module "Basisrecht".
On July 1, 2012, the University of St. Martin hosted an information session, which was very well attended. Fifteen (15) persons matriculated into the Dutch Law Program via Open Universiteit signed up and are now following the tutorials at USM.
The Dutch Law Program is a collaborative effort with Open Universiteit with the goal to enhance tertiary education programs at the University of St. Martin responding to the demand for (Para) legal studies in St. Maarten.
Persons are invited to contact the University of St. Martin at 721-542-5171 ext. 1000 should they still be interested in attending the Dutch Law tutorials.
