The Master in Labour and Social Security Law, a program for an international audience, specifically trains students in the necessary skills for labour legal advice, from advising companies and public institutions to negotiating and defending the different parties in labour relations, either individual or through collective bargaining.
* Important: Approximately 20% of the sessions of this program can be taught in Catalan.
This lifelong learning university training is characterized, mainly, by offering students a very complete syllabus concerning labour law that goes beyond simple updating, complementation, or review, training specialists in the social branch of law and the labour market. The program aims to train lawyers specialized in Labour and Social Security Law and, therefore, is different from other programs in Human Resources, labour relations, social promotion, or business advice in general.
Throughout the subjects of the master, you will learn labour, collective bargaining, work, and social security regulations and you will delve into the main interpretive problems posed by the latest regulatory changes and the criteria applied in labour legal advice. In addition, the subjects in the master will provide you with up-to-date knowledge on constitutional jurisprudence and the Spanish Supreme Court, highlighting what refers to the unification of the doctrine applied to lawyers and companies and, if applicable, that of the higher courts of justice of the autonomous communities, especially in the case of Catalonia.
The master's course offers the student a very diverse team of teachers. The composition of the last two courses consisted of 19 university professors belonging to 13 different universities and various fields of the labour legal environment, 9 magistrates, 7 lawyers from the Public Administration, 4 practising lawyers and 2 Work and Social Security Inspectors.
The Master in Labour and Social Security Law is endorsed by Pompeu Fabra University, the 1st Spanish university and the 15th best university in the world (of those with less than 50 years), according to the Times Higher Education ranking. In addition, UPF Barcelona School of Management has EQUIS accreditation, the most prestigious institutional recognition for business schools globally.
Why choose this program
Study at an accredited school
Study at a school accredited by EQUIS, an international distinction that guarantees the quality of our institution and makes us the 1st school of management linked to a public university with this accreditation in our country.
Gain access to a profession in great demand
Labour relations have always presented a high degree of judicialization, so there is a sustained demand for the education of specialists in labour law (lawyers and graduates with good company knowledge). Every year, in Catalonia alone, more than 62,000 cases in matters of management of labour law and labour legal advice enter the courts. In approximately half of these, more than 30,000, a trial is held and the corresponding sentence or negotiation is given, while the others are reconciled and some are abandoned. This gives us a clear idea of the social need for a large number of legal specialists and lawyers in this area.
Reference program in the sector
For more than 28 courses, the master has been training students as specialists in the social branch of law and as lawyers, subject to continuous reforms and management systems, both in labour matters and in the elaboration of collective agreements, which makes the program a reference in the labour law sector.
Learn from industry experts
The teaching team of the master is made up of diverse professors who come from many universities and different areas of experience, as well as specialists from all legal subjects and professions (magistrates, inspectors, lawyers, public administration lawyers, etc.) both from Spain and from the European environment.
Connect to the professional world
The master program satisfies the diverse needs of students: preparation for public examinations, change of speciality in the field of work and social security, preparation for free practice as a lawyer specializing in labour relations, new knowledge and recycling of all the subject after years of dealing with a few topics on labour legal management, etc.
Undertake professional internships
Students on the Master will have the opportunity to carry out specialized professional internships in the field of labour relations, Labour Law and Social Security in Spain.
Who is it for?
The master is one of the courses that is aimed primarily at graduate students in Law or Labour Relations, who are interested in specializing or deepening their skills and knowledge in the professional practice of labour law and advice in the field of Labour Law and labour relations in companies.
Exceptionally, those graduates from other fields (such as Economics, Labour Sciences or Political Sciences) could apply as students of the master provided they have certain knowledge and a minimum legal-labour basis for having taken subjects in Labour Law and labour relations in Spain.
Curriculum
The Master in Labour and Social Security Law structures its curriculum in 3 large areas that revolve around the subjects of procedural law, labour law and the right to social security, and give the students the necessary experience for accessing numerous companies and offices in the judicial environment.
According to possible legislature developments in Spain, the final program and the methodology that allows us to reach the end of the Master can be slightly different.
Note: The language of the program will be mainly Spanish, although approximately 20% of the classes will be done in Catalan. Therefore, a knowledge of Catalan is required at the level of understanding.
Note on the Curriculum
Complementary activities
The Master in Labour and Social Security Law also includes the possibility of participating in practical activities and activities for personal and professional growth such as:
- UPF-BSM Inside: is a group of interdisciplinary subjects (applied data, communication, creativity, innovation and project management, sustainability and leadership among others) that, if you take this program, you can access at no additional cost. They are 100% online and you can take them throughout the academic year at your own pace, as they have been designed as self-study subjects.
Qualification obtained
Once you have passed the program, you will receive the following electronic degree certification (eTítulo©): Lifelong learning master's degree in Labour Law and Spanish Public Health System, awarded by Pompeu Fabra University. The eTítulo© will be issued in Catalan, Spanish and English.
The electronic degree certification (eTítulo© ) is an authentic digital degree, issued in pdf format and electronically signed, with the same legal validity as if it were in paper format.
Faculty
The teaching team of the Master in Labour and Social Security Law is made up of a diverse team of teachers with extensive experience in education who come from different companies and universities as well as specialists from all professions in the labour legal field (magistrates, inspectors, lawyers, public administration lawyers, etc.).
Academic directors
Collaborating faculty
- Jordi Agustí
Magistrate at the Supreme Court. - Miquel Arenas
Lawyer. - Susana Barcelón
Professor at TU UC3M. - Consuelo Chacartegui
Lecturer in Employment Law and Social Security and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, with management responsibilities in the Bachelor's Programme in Labour Relations at UPF. - Eusebi Colàs
UPF Associate professor. - Jesús Cruz Vilalón
Professor of Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Seville. - Sebastian de Soto
U. Pablo Olavide de Sevilla Professor - Ignacio García-Perrote
Supreme Court Magistrate. Professor of Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. - Sixte Garganté
Lawyer. - José Antonio González Espada
Lawyer. - Mónica González
Legal Advice INNS. - Xavier González De Rivera
Magistrate. - Santiago González Ortega
PhD in Law from the University of Bologna. Professor of Employment and Social Security Law at the University Pablo de Olavide. - José Luis Goñi
Professor of Employment and Social Security Law at the public university of Navarra. - Anna Huertos
Lawyer. - Rafael Laraña
Deputy Director of Retirement, Survival and International Conventions at the National Institute of the Social Security in Barcelona. - José Luís Martínez Campillo
Employment inspector. - Magdalena Nogueira
U. Autónoma de Madrid Professor. - Joan Palet
Employment inspector. - Mª Dolors Pérez
Legal Advice INNS. - Paco Pérez
Lawyer specialist in employment law. - Luís Pérez Capitán
Employment inspector. - Nuria Pumar
President of the Equality Commission at the Law Faculty of the University of Barcelona. Tenured lecturer of Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Barcelona. - Juan Reyes
Lawyer from Employment Department at Uría-Menéndez Abogados. Barcelona. - Faustino Rodríguez
Social Magistrate in Barcelona. - Miguel Rodríguez-Piñero
University of Seville Professor. - Ana Salas
Social Magistrate - Félix Salaverria
Generalitat de Catalunya’s Social Rights Department Legal Advice Chief. - Fernando Salinas
Magistrate at the Supreme Court. PhD in Law from the University of Seville. - Fanny Saurina
Employment inspector. - María Luisa Segoviano Astaburuaga
Magistrate at the Supreme Court. - Josep Maria Vargas
Higher Technician TGSS. - Telma Vega Felgueroso
Employment Inspector. - Rosa Maria Viroles Piñol
Magistrate at the Supreme Court.
Methodology
The Master in Labour and Social Security Law is conceived with the purpose of combining two objectives that could seem antagonistic at the educational level: generality and depth. The first experience is manifested in an all-encompassing program design in which all aspects of the world of work, labour law, collective agreements and labour disputes are considered, with special emphasis on those aspects that have undergone more recent modifications.
Group practical cases
Throughout the master, practically half of the face-to-face sessions offered to students are devoted to the analysis of practical cases, which are examined and discussed in class with the entire group of students.
Diverse and specialized teaching team
The composition of the teaching team of the latest courses consisted of 13 university professors with experience from 7 different universities, 9 magistrates (TS, TSJC, JS), 8 public administration lawyers, 5 practising lawyers and 5 Labour and Social Security inspectors.
Tutoring and monitoring
Throughout the course the academic management team will monitor the student to offer support and ensure their correct progress in relation to labour legal assessment.
Evaluation
To obtain the title corresponding to our courses, it is essential that students complete the Master's Final Project, attend classes regularly (a minimum of 80%) and pass the practical exercises and compulsory work, whose conditions of delivery and preparation will be defined, in each case, by the professionals who commission them.
Tools
Project-oriented learning and the combination of lectures and active methodologies such as case studies, flipped learning, solving real problems and professional simulations allow the student to connect theory and practice, acquire advanced skills and achieve learning which is transferable to work.
You will have:
- Master's Final Project (TFM) or Postgrad Final Project (TFP)
- A personal mentor to monitor your final project (TFM or TFP)
- Digital resources to achieve transversal skills
- Interdisciplinary activities and workshops
Professional Future
The Master in Labour and Social Security Law brings together legal professionals in each course, together with lawyers who wish to specialize in this branch of Law and labour disputes in companies. Throughout the program of the master, students will be trained to continue their career in the professional market as specialists in labour legal assessment.
Student profile
Our master's students are mostly legal professionals who wish to become specialists in Labour and Social Security Law in different organizations in a European environment, whether they are acquiring this speciality for the first time after recently joining a law firm or by changing speciality given the high current demand for specialists in law and in the labour market. In particular, graduates who have recently started practising as lawyers or as company graduates tell us that their interest is to expand their training in issues that they once deemed irrelevant, together with a natural focus on the most recent regulatory reforms.
Average age
Previous studies in Law
Previous studies in Labour Relations
Previous studies in Legal and Social Sciences
Career opportunities
This university master training includes the possibility of doing extracurricular internships as a lawyer in a law firm at the end of the master. This type of internship is not part of the academic content of the master or postgraduate course; it is considered a complement to the students' class sessions and is not mandatory.
The program meets diverse needs at a professional level and helps the student who reaches the end of the master to:
- Prepare oppositions
- Change specialization to the field of work and social security
- Prepare for the free practice of law as a specialist lawyer
- Update knowledge related to Labour and Social Security Law
- Create a firm for advising companies, workers or organizations