Study plan
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Study plan
The graduate program has a flexible curricular structure that allows students to enroll in courses that address their concerns and meet their educational needs within a framework that focuses on attaining objectives, developing the final project, and meeting the program's graduate profile.
The Study plan is divided into three curricular areas: Fundamentals; Research, Development and Innovation (RDI); and Electives.
FUNDAMENTALS
The courses in this area define the academic field and the program's identity, and relate to the Lines of Generation and Application of Knowledge (LGAC's, in their initials in Spanish).
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION (RDI).
This area is closely related to the Advisory Support System. Its purpose is to accompany students in their process of defining, developing, writing and presenting their final projects. Students will receive group and personal advisory sessions called RDI courses.
ELECTIVES
The purpose of this area is to give students the chance to dialogue with other fields of knowledge outside of their own discipline, in order to generate knowledge and solve problems related to their project and object of study. This area draws on courses from all ITESO graduate programs and from other universities that have a collaboration agreement with ITESO.
Advisory support system
The advisory support system seeks to encourage connections between students' research, innovation and development interests and the Lines of Generation and Application of Knowledge of each particular graduate program, as well as links to the rest of the graduate programs.
The advisory support system is based on a person-oriented approach, and gives preference to collective production scenarios. It consists of interaction between students and advisors that is intended to provoke dissonance through constructive criticism, as a way to encourage reflection and the collective construction of knowledge.
The support system articulates different educational dimensions (individual, social and historical) in each one of the program's curricular periods. Advisory sessions can also be taken in pairs or individually.
The program offers two lines of knowledge to carry out the work to obtain degree:
a) Human Rights
b) Rule of Law
Fundamentals
- Legal Argumentation and Interpretation.
- International Human Rights Law.
- Philosophy of Law.
- Constitutional Procedural Justice.
- Factual Evidence and the Oral Trial system.
Electives
- Constitutional Law Clinic.
- Political Communication.
- International Cooperation.
- Social Movements and Human Rights.
- Judicial Reform and Constitutional Rule of Law.
Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI)
- Research, Development, and Innovation I. (Legal Logic and Concept Analysis).
- Research, Development, and Innovation II. (Legal Research Seminar).
- Research, Development, and Innovation III. (Seminar on the Analysis of Legal Rulings and Documents).
- Research, Development, and Innovation IV. (Required Seminar to Obtain Degree).
The Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation has an academic structure that allows students to take elective courses from other degree programs of the Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies (DESOJ, in its initials in Spanish), specifically from the "Master's Degree in Human Rights and Peace" and the "Master's Degree in Politics and Public Administration." The following table sets out the joint vision of the DESOJ graduate programs.
Course Type | Politics and Public Administration | Human Rights and Peace | Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation | Credits |
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Research, Development, and Innovation | Research, Development, and Innovation 1 | Research, Development, and Innovation 1 | Research, Development, and Innovation 1 | 4 |
Research, Development, and Innovation | Research, Development, and Innovation 2 | Research, Development, and Innovation 2 | Research, Development, and Innovation 2 | 4 |
Research, Development, and Innovation | Research, Development, and Innovation 3 | Research, Development, and Innovation 3 | Research, Development, and Innovation 3 | 4 |
Research, Development, and Innovation | Research, Development, and Innovation 4 | Research, Development, and Innovation 4 | Research, Development, and Innovation 4 | 4 |
Elective | Elective | Elective | Elective | 8 |
Elective | Elective | Elective | Elective | 8 |
Fundamentals | Political Science | Theory of Peace and Conflict | Constitutional Procedural Justice | 8 |
Fundamentals | Sociopolitical Analysis | Theory of Human Rights | International Human Rights Law | 8 |
Fundamentals | Public Policies | International Human Rights Law | Factual Evidence and the Oral Trial System | 8 |
Fundamentals | Public Administration and Government | Public Policies for Human Rights and Peace | Constitutional Argumentation and Interpretation | 8 |
Fundamentals | Public Finances | Contemporary debates on peace and conflict | Economic Analysis of Law | 8 |
Fundamentals | Economics | Contemporary debates on Human Rights | Philosophy of Law | 8 |
Objectives of the study plan
The aim of the Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation is to provide students with the theoretical / practical tools required to intervene effectively in the social issue of human rights violations, especially at the local and regional levels in mid-western Mexico. The program trains professionals with a critical eye, specialized in navigating the conceptual elements and practical experiences required for the comprehensive legal protection of human rights from the perspective of legal argumentation and the theory of law. What sets the Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation apart from other graduate programs is its interdisciplinary approach, which at the same time offers a degree of specialization thanks to its integrated graduate program model.
This graduate program promotes a critical approach to law and its institutions, and aims at transforming the legal reality of our social contexts through practices that reclaim rights and freedoms in order to build a more just and humane society. The conditions of exclusion suffered by migrants in transit, gender violence, forced disappearances, torture, and other serious human rights violations need to be addressed by legal professionals skilled in the use of effective legal instruments, and who also have a social commitment to the most vulnerable groups and individuals.
The recent changes made to the Mexican legal system favor this person-centered perspective, defining law not simply as a set of rules, but primarily as a body of principles. The constitutional reforms passed in the summer of 2008 and 2011, the Supreme Court's ruling in the Radilla case, the shift to the tenth era of the Judicial Branch, and even the thesis contradictions 293/2011, 299/2013, or 2/2011, constitute reforms, rulings and debates that suggest an openness to a perspective of law that supports democracy, a paradigm shift that demands lawyers with a new set of competencies and skills.
The natural fields of professional action include human rights litigation, a judicial career, civil associations, citizen government bodies, as well as academia. With respect to the topic of their Final Projects, students can choose from two lines of research: Rule of Law with a focus on legally guaranteeing and protecting human rights, and Legal Argumentation for analyzing the grounds for legal decisions made by different courts and authorities.
Goals of the study plan
The Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Arguments is divided into three areas. The first is the area of fundamentals, which includes 6 required subjects that focus on the disciplines of Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation. The courses in International Human Rights Law and Constitutional Procedural Justice contribute directly to a solid grounding in Constitutional Law, while the courses in Constitutional Argumentation and Interpretation, and Factual Evidence and the Oral Trial System, provide the foundation for Legal Argumentation. The two remaining fundamentals courses, Philosophy of Law and Economic Analysis of Law, equip students with key analytical and critical thinking tools.
The elective area is made up of two courses that can be selected from the area of fundamentals of the other integrated graduate degrees: the Master's Degree in Human Rights and Peace or the Master's Degree in Politics and Public Administration.
The third area consists of the Research, Development and Innovation courses, the only serialized courses of the graduate program, where students work with the advisory support system to develop the practical aspects of the program. These courses account for 25% of the total offerings, and they focus on the development of the Final Project and participation in the Professional Application Projects (PAPs). PAPs are designed to immerse students in real-world settings outside of the university, where they can apply their socio-professional knowledge and skills in order to propose solutions or solve problems in social environments, with an eye to improving the quality of life of others and assuming the profession's social commitment. PAPs in this graduate program serve as professional experiences; they are articulated with the Research, Development and Innovation courses, and seek to develop a professional profile that includes a critical view of the practice of law.
Entrance profile
The Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation is aimed at professionals with undergraduate degrees in law, judicial science, political science, public administration, and other related areas; or students with professional experience in government offices, the private sector, or non-government organizations; or in any field related to law, politics, or philosophy; or with participation in research, innovation, or development projects related to fields of legal expertise.
Candidates for this graduate program must have a clear project in mind that will build on the contents and skills offered by the study plan. They must be willing to address complex issues and engage in interdisciplinary dialogue, with an interest in incorporating human rights and peace perspectives into their legal practice, and influencing public decisions in favor of those who have limited access to a dignified life. Other desirable characteristics in students include discipline for academic tasks, the ability to combine work and academic activities, competence in oral and written communication, intellectual rigor and organization, and an openness to collaborative and group work.
Finally, students must demonstrate a certain level of English proficiency. In this sense, this graduate program is aimed especially at human rights litigators, public servants or judicial professionals, as well as members of civil and non-government organizations that defend human rights through the use of legal instruments.
Graduate profile
Graduates from the Master's Degree in Constitutional Law and Legal Argumentation will develop skills to:
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Analyze conceptual issues and apply instruments of the theory of law to solve difficult cases.
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Identify the jurisdictional bodies and procedural instruments of constitutional procedural justice, constitutional boundaries, as well as constitutional interpretation methods.
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Build solid legal arguments that justify positions aimed at solving human rights and democracy issues.
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Interpret the human rights codification instruments used at the international level, as well as the transnational systems of human rights monitoring and compliance.
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Apply the guiding principles of the adversarial criminal trial system, its procedural phases and the roles of each of the parties involved.
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Manage and transform conflicts peacefully, protecting the centrality of the individual and his or her rights.
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Integrate theoretical and analytical knowledge by dealing with practical real-world legal and political problems related to human rights.
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Produce innovative, creative, and critical knowledge that promotes peaceful coexistence and respect for human rights.
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Address specific challenges in the fields of human rights and peace, in order to promote social responsibility and cohesion, as well as a commitment to the most dispossessed sectors of society.
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Make systemic, sustainable, socially responsible and human-centered decisions in their socio-professional practice.
Recognition of Official Validity of Studies (RVOE) as set forth by Ministerial Agreement No. 15018, published in the Official Journal of the Federation on November 29, 1976. Classroom modality.