If you are a student from outside the UK looking for an international study experience to broaden your mind, challenge your intellect and bring you into contact with some of the best academic lawyers and brightest law students in Europe, the Certificate in English Law is for you.
This programme is designed for two groups of students:
The aim is to familiarise you with the main elements of the English legal system in one intensive year running from September to June the following year. The time to apply is early in the academic year before that which you plan to spend in Birmingham.
You study alongside our LLB students on the same modules and are assessed and examined in the same way. This provides you with the challenge of adjusting to a different system and competing within it.
Every student at Birmingham has a personal tutor, who provides guidance about the programme and helps them monitor their progress. There is an orientation course for international exchange students before the programme begins.
Programme content
We assume that you have no prior knowledge of English law, so the programme starts with lectures and discussion groups on the structure of the legal system, the range of legal sources and methods of reasoning. The structure of the programme varies depending on whether you are studying law or another subject at your home university.
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Programme for law students
There are two compulsory modules in Public Law and Law of Obligations (Contract). Alongside these, you select from a broad range of optional subjects spanning the entire spectrum of the law, from the highly technical to the sociological, from the procedural to the political, from the historical to the contemporary, and from the domestic to the international.
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Programme for non-law students
If you are studying a subject other than law at your home university, you take compulsory modules in Public Law, Law of Obligations, Criminal Law, and European Union Law. With the guidance of your personal tutor, you also select one optional subject.
Teaching and assessment
Modules are taught by lectures and discussion groups. Assessment methods vary; some modules have traditional examinations, while others are assessed by essays written during the year, and some by both methods.
Related links
Birmingham Law School website: www.law.bham.ac.uk
Required subjects and grades: Completion of at least two years full-time university-level study at an approved institution (normally a university).
General Studies: accepted
International students:
Language requirements for students whose education has not been entirely in English is an IELTS score of 7.0 with no less than 6.5 in any band, or a TOEFL score of 600 (paper-based) with TWE score of 4.0/IBT (internet-based test) score of 100 overall with no less than 23 in any band.
For further information on English language requirements please contact the International Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)121 414 3694/7167; fax: +44 (0)121 414 3850; or email: international@bham.ac.uk
Learn more about international entry requirements.
Depending on your chosen course of study, you may also be interested in the Birmingham Foundation Academy, a specially structured programme for international students whose qualifications are not accepted for direct entry to UK universities. Further details can be found on the foundation academy web pages.