Enkelejda Koka, Albania

LLM in European Law 2008-2009

Before joining Queen Mary University I was working at a law firm in London dealing mostly with Extradition and Immigration cases. I have always been interested in European Law and its development. During my work experience I realised the importance United Kingdom authorities and courts placed on European law and Human Rights. One of the most important grounds for refusing an extradition case was to argue a breach of Human Rights and Fair Trial under the European Convention. This is when I decided that I had to learn more about European Law and Human rights to be able to succeed in practice.

I chose Queen Mary, University of London because of its reputation in the LLM programme and its wide choice of modules in all its topics. Not many Universities provide so many modules to choose for the LLM programme, especially in European Law which I was interested in. The lecturers are very professional, experts in their field and most importantly very friendly and easily approachable.

Another thing that I loved about Queen Mary was its international environment. There were students coming from all over the world. I had the opportunity to learn about other cultures. This also made the lectures very interesting as we had the opportunity to hear from students coming from European Member States and see how the discussed issues in class really affected the Member states.

I have really enjoyed the LLM programme especially the fact that I decided to complete it in London. London is a multinational environment in which everyone is equally respected and no one feels discriminated against. There are many opportunities in London to socialise with friends and have nights out. One can go sightseeing in London and be amazed by its beauty.

After completing my Masters I can now return to Albania and contribute back by putting in practice the educational skills I have received from studying at Queen Mary. My inspiration is to work and contribute towards Albania integrating in Europe and in the same time voluntarily helping Human rights Non-Governmental Organisations in order to protect vulnerable people and helping towards making the Albanian authorities conscious of any Human Rights violations. Queen Mary has given me the opportunity to improve my professional skills and has equipped me academically with the diploma necessary to achieve my goals.