International Student Exchange Monterrey, 29 February 2008 José M. de Areilza & Gregory J. Marsden IE Law School, Madrid

The Exchange Explosion Globalization of law and legal education In contrast to “law doesn’t travel well” US summer and semester-abroad pioneers 2L and 3L years as exchange opportunity Institutional exchanges and ad hoc visiting students Europe: ERASMUS Very popular at undergraduate level

Latin American Law Students Attracted by European exchanges Traditionally more oriented towards USA Cultural experience is important Interest in EU Law: the Union is legally a federation International business / business administration Influenced by affiliation with top business school Latin American students tend to be well-prepared Significant work experience Law clerkships are more prevalent in Latin America

Benefits for Host Schools Diversity in the classroom Benefit of students with more work experience Especially in problem-based learning Increase international visibility, prestige Exchange students & returnees make good ambassadors Some exchange students come back for LLM Marketing message for host school Commitment to international opportunity

Challenges Affordability for students Strong Euro makes exchange quite expensive for most students Selective development of exchange relationships Focus on like-minded schools Risk of having a long list of partners, unfilled exchange slots Exchange as part of 1-year LLM program Our outgoing students must extend for additional semester Complete all LLM courses before going on exchange

Future prospects Latin American students getting job offers in Spain Phenomenon has started in last 2 or 3 years In spite of immigration and bar qualification issues Driven by demographics in Spain, political & economic factors at home On Line possibilities Work abroad and learn at same time Co-teaching by partner schools? Civil law + common law has been prevalent model for exchange, but the paradigm is shifting: Chinese Law, Islamic law… The new “European Space of Higher Education” (Bologna Process, 2010), a challenge for exchanges in a context of stronger competition