Ida Opas’s topical bachelor of laws thesis the best in the world
Law student Ida Opas’s bachelor of laws thesis has been selected as the world’s best in its field in the Global Undergraduate Awards. The winner aims to work in international competition law.
The award-winning thesis, The Relationship Between Company-level Collective Agreements and European Union Competition Law, was completed under the supervision of Associate Professor Jari Murto.
The victory came as a pleasant surprise to Opas.
“I’d received a good grade for my thesis and the supervisor gave me really good feedback, so I thought I’d try out how I’d fare in an international competition. I thought maybe I could receive some small recognition there. When they called and told me that I’d won the entire category, I was really surprised.”
Thesis tackles a burning legal issue
Opas’s thesis examines the relationship between company-level collective agreements and EU competition law. The topic is particularly important, since company-level agreements remain on the rise in Finland.
In her thesis, Opas investigates whether Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the central competition provision of EU law, applies to company-level collective agreements, or whether they are excluded from the review of competition law in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the same way as traditional collective agreements.
“This is important, for example, from the perspective of employee rights,” Opas explains. “It is important to know how the EU Court of Justice functions when, for example, it is presented with a case, where one of the objectives of a company-level agreement is not to protect employees’ interests.”
The research topic was challenging but also rewarding.
“There isn’t much prior research on this topic. To begin with, I had to explore a lot of terminology, since different terms are used in EU countries for various collective agreements,” Opas explains.
“The topic was really interesting, and I'm hoping to continue with the same themes in my master’s studies as well.”
International boost to studies from student exchange
At the moment, Opas is on student exchange in Switzerland at the University of Geneva. For a student interested in international competition law, the exchange period provides an opportunity also to learn about case law in other countries.
“I’ll be completing here a 30-credit Certificate in Transnational Law programme for international students. It’s been really interesting to hear from other students about how the legal system of their country solves a specific legal question, for example,” Opas says.
Switzerland is an excellent destination for exchange also from the perspective of Ida’s hobbies. She spends her free time reading books, running and downhill skiing. She hopes that she will have some time to explore the slopes of the Alps during her studies.
“I’m eagerly awaiting the start of the Swiss skiing season,” Opas say with a smile.
The victory will be celebrated in Dublin in November
In the first week of November, Opas and other winners will head to Dublin for the Global Undergraduate Awards’ three-day Global Undergraduate Summit.
“It’s fun to be able to travel to Dublin to get to know the winners in other disciplines and their topics as well as listen to the keynote speakers at the summit. This will be something I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience without participating in the competition,” Opas muses.
For the competition, Opas had to translate her Finnish-language thesis into English and shorten it, since Finnish bachelor’s theses are long compared with those of other countries. The effort was worth it and Opas recommends that others also participate in the competition.
“You lose nothing by taking part and, really, you can only be positively surprised,” Opas encourages.
Congratulations to Ida on behalf of the whole University community!
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What is the Global Undergraduate Awards?
Recognising top work by bachelor’s students, the Global Undergraduate Awards programme is the largest of its kind, spanning over 400 higher education institutions all over the world. Theses are awarded annually in 25 discipline-specific categories, with a global winner and regional winner selected in each.
The University of Helsinki has been involved in the programme since 2013. Opas is the fifth student of the University of Helsinki to receive the global award.
Photo: Ida Opas' private archive