The Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is proud to announce the graduation of its first two candidates in the MPhil in Extractive Industry Policy, Management and Regulation Programme since its inception in February 2018.  The Extractive Industries Law in Africa Unit (EILA), hosted by the Department of Public Law, also delivered the largest group of graduandi of all postgraduate law programmes during the Autumn graduation ceremony, with nineteen proud candidates, from various African countries, receiving their Master's degrees in Extractive Industry Law in Africa on 4 April 2019. 

According to Adv Leon Gerber, the director of this specialised academic Unit, ‘[T]he aim of the extractives industries suite of postgraduate programmes is to deliver qualified professionals who are contextually sensitised to the multi-faceted challenges faced by contemporary extractive sectors on the Africa continent.  This is an essential role, as the professional development of future government officials, legal practitioners, policy-makers and industry specialists, will be vital to the successful and sustainable development of natural resources in Africa.'

A first of their kind for the continent, the LLM and MPhil programmes adopt a novel pedagogical approach in order to provide for an innovate, topical and practical curricula that is suited to the particular challenges of sustainable natural resource development in Africa, and to distinguish it from the few international programmes available.  As such, the programmes retain an emphasis on the legal aspects associated with contemporary oil, gas and mineral extraction, but focus on extractive industry governance from an interdisciplinary- and pan-Africanist perspective.

Tailor-made in Africa for students who work in Africa, EILA is proudly contributing to the preparation of the next generation of industry and government lawyers and leaders, who will recognise that the impact of extractive projects range far beyond the signed contracts.  Equipped to address the complex governance and implementation that is determinative to the success of such ventures, these lawyers and leaders will be at the vanguard of unlocking the riches of the Africa continent in a sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner for the advantage and benefit of all its inhabitants.

Applications for the 2020-intake for both the LLM and MPhil programmes will open in June 2019.