University of Law
The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a private for-profit university in the United Kingdom, providing law degrees, specialist legal training and continuing professional development courses for British barristers and solicitors; it is the United Kingdom's largest law school.[1][2] It traces its origins to 1876.[3][4]
This article is about the British private university. For the American law school, see Colleges of Law. For the Australian law school, see College of Law (Australia). For the general type, see Law school.
Former names
The College of Law of England and Wales
(1962–2012)
Let us know the laws and rights
1962,
2012 (university status)
Andrea Nollent
c. 17,000
Urban
The College of Law had been incorporated by royal charter as a charity in 1975, but in 2012, prior to the granting of university status, its educational and training business was split off and incorporated as a private limited company. This became The College of Law Limited and later The University of Law Limited.[5] The college was granted degree-awarding powers in 2006, and in 2012 changed its name to The University of Law (ULaw) when it became the UK's first for-profit educational institution to be granted university status.[6][7][8]
The charitable branch, which remained incorporated by the 1975 royal charter, became the Legal Education Foundation.[9] Shortly after the granting of university status and being renamed The University of Law in 2012, The College of Law Limited was bought by Montagu Private Equity.[10] Three years later, Montagu sold the company to its present owner, the Netherlands-based company Global University Systems.[11]
The university has seventeen campuses in the UK in Birmingham, Bristol, Guildford, Leeds, London (Bloomsbury and Moorgate), Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield, Newcastle, Chester, Norwich, Exeter, Southampton, Egham, Reading, Liverpool, as well as, international branches in Hong Kong and Berlin and an online campus.
History[edit]
20th century[edit]
The Law Society of England and Wales created The College of Law in 1962 by merging its own solicitors' training school, the Law Society School of Law (founded in 1903) with the tutorial firm Gibson and Weldon (established in 1876).[12][13] were officially granted on 5 September 1967 to the then College of Law. The coat of arms of the College of Law of England and Wales was depicted with the motto Leges Juraque Cognoscamus ("Let us know the laws and rights"). The crest was deprecated when the institution became a private limited company.
Campuses[edit]
ULaw has campuses in the UK located in Birmingham, Bristol, Guildford, Leeds, London (Bloomsbury and Moorgate), Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.[42] It also delivers the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course programmes at four other UK universities: University of Exeter (since 2015), University of Reading (since 2017), University of Liverpool (since 2018), and University of East Anglia (since 2019).[43][44][45]
The university opened an international branch in Hong Kong in 2019,[46] which operates out of a serviced office.[47][48] The Christleton (Chester) campus was sold in 2019 and closed in 2021.[49][50]
Academic profile[edit]
As of 2018, courses and degrees offered by the university include Bachelor of Laws (LL.B), Bar Professional Training Course, Graduate Diploma in Law, Legal Practice Course, Master of Laws (LL.M) in Legal Practice, Master of Science (MSc) in Law, Governance, Risk and Compliance, and the Professional Skills Course (for trainee solicitors on day-release).[51]
The Open University's courses in Law (including the LL.B by distance learning) were offered in association with The University of Law. However, the Open University announced in a 2013 press release that this partnership was being phased out and would end completely in 2018.[20]
In 2015, ULaw established a one-year foundation programme for international students wishing to progress to undergraduate legal study in the UK.[52]
The University of Law does not feature in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as the Shanghai Ranking) or Times Higher Education university rankings (including QS World University Rankings), as the rankings exclude small and/or specialist institutions.[3]
In the 2014 National Student Survey, the university was jointly classified with University of Exeter, University of East Anglia and University of Buckingham as the UK's second most successful university in terms of student ratings, with a learner satisfaction level of 92%.[53] In the 2016 National Student Survey the university was ranked joint first (with the University of Buckingham) for satisfaction within the student body, achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 97%.[54] The Advertising Standards Authority has noted, however, that this compared the ranking for all subjects, and that when limited to law, ULaw ranked sixth for student satisfaction.[55] In 2019, the university received a Silver rating in the UK government's Teaching Excellence Framework.[56]