International Maritime Law Institute

Anyone have any insight into this school?

https://www.imli.org/about-us/imlis-facilities

It has no apparent national accreditation but claims some association with the UN agency - IMO.

https://www.un.org/regularprocess/content/world-maritime-university-wmu-and-international-maritime-law-institute-imli

 

What is your interest in the institution?

 

All I can tell you is that if you google them their name comes up a lot in the news.

https://newsbook.com.mt/en/47-international-maritime-law-students-graduate-from-imli/

 

The UN isn't an accreditor. Any school like this needs to be approved in the country where they are located. Their contact info says Malta, but I don't see them on the list of approved institutions.

https://ncfhe.gov.mt/en/register/Pages/register.aspx

Nor are they on the list of approved courses. So maybe their educational programs are actually based in another country while the corporate HQ is in Malta? I don't know. They claim to be established by a special arrangement between IMO and the government of Malta. So it's possible that they approved this school outside of their normal structure. It's a small country, they can do crap like that if they want.

Barring some form of recognized approval, though, I cannot see the draw.

 

Looking at their research based graduate degrees.

 

IMLI claims to be affiliated with the University of Malta which is listed as a "self accrediting institution." Therefore, maybe UoM is providing the "cover" since they can do as they please?

 

And quite possibly this is all legit. European universities are much more inclined than US ones to do these weird affiliations where you study with another organization and get a degree from them. That's how the Priory Institute works.

But it's such a niche area I have to believe that the people in the world of Maritime Law have a pretty good fix on which programs are good and well respected and which are crap, if any. I cannot imagine there is a huge market for fraudulent degrees in this space.

 

If I was truly interested in this school, as opposed to being merely curious, I would find whatever US equivalent exists, maybe one of the Maritime Academies, and ask them what they think about it. As Neuhaus suggested, it's a small world and they probably know all about it, good or bad.

 

Am I missing something? These "programmes" appear to be resident rather than D/L and I entertain no doubts as to the school's legitimacy.

There are a few U.S. schools that offer Admiralty Law LL.M. degrees including Tulane and Miami but these programs are terrifyingly expensive for a degree that no lawyer actually needs. There are D/L maritime law degrees available from the U.K. as well, also expensive.

 

They offer a research PhD which would be largely remote:

IMLI offers a Research Degree programme leading to the award of the Degree of Magister Juris (M.Jur.) in International Maritime Law and the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in International Maritime Law. Candidates are expected to undergo their studies in IMLI’s Research Degree programme with a high degree of independence; thus, the programme can be largely undertaken from abroad. Candidates are assigned individual academic supervisors drawn from a list of internationally-recognized experts.

https://www.imli.org/programmes-and-courses/research-degree-programme

Sounds like a UNISA type model assuming one is qualified and has a research plan in advance.

 

Any mention of pre-requisites and cost?

 

Nevermind I found it:
MJur for PhD and
7596Euro per year
https://www.imli.org/programmes-and-courses/fees

 

But not really, looks like before you can do the PhD, you have have to get the Advanced Degree.