Wannabe barristers who are due to submit their Bar Professional Training Course (BTPC) applications tomorrow should take a look at the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) reports of the monitoring visits it pays to course providers. We’ve been tweeting some of the most eyebrow-raising findings during the day, and have embedded them below…
25% of BPTC students at City Law School had a 2:2.
Surprising that in 2012 25% of #BPTC students at City Law School had a 2:2… https://t.co/kfP2iLNzVu pic.twitter.com/Uj8ZrMk6Lq
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
A third of full-time students on the Manchester Met BPTC had a 2:2.
Also lots of 2:2s on Manc Met #BPTC – 1/3 of full time & 1/2 of part time students had 2:2 https://t.co/BYvMUdhuYv pic.twitter.com/gjly0cdVGe
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
The 2:2 ratio was potentially even higher at the University of Law’s Birmingham branch.
Only 60% of fulltime Birmingham Uni of Law #BPTC students had 1st/2:1. So 40% 2:2s? https://t.co/wZ2nMaF8Sf pic.twitter.com/eCNDESZvJs
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
No figures were available for the BPP course, but 2:2s also appear to be an issue, alongside the frequently-voiced concern about some non-EU students’ poor English language skills.
Concerns about 2:2s & students' poor English on the BPP #BPTC https://t.co/QKEZMBaBid pic.twitter.com/qw9BpQPeNP
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
There were more English language issues at Nottingham Law School.
More English language issues among #BPTC students, this time at Nottingham Law School #BPTC https://t.co/RzOlSRQJcX pic.twitter.com/HTTfDHjBLx
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
Three quarters of the students on last year’s BPTC at the University of West of England (UWE) were from outside the EU.
75% non-EU students on the UWE #BPTC last year https://t.co/qjGKfWBRY7 pic.twitter.com/14ouiKzj0g
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
Pupillage success rates appear to be depressingly low among Cardiff Law School BPTCers.
2 (out of 60!) students on Cardiff #BPTC had obtained pupillage at time of monitoring visit https://t.co/p3NU48tkFs pic.twitter.com/gVIwrUeZUz
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
Northumbria BPTC students seem to have had more luck, but it’s the non-EU students dominating in the pupillage-bagging stakes.
Northumbria #BPTC: high % of non-EU students, OK home student pupillage success rate (27%) https://t.co/6Ox9tQE2Gb pic.twitter.com/YfAWDl7AUW
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
It’s no surprise that the only BPTC which requires students to sit an aptitude test to gain entry to the course has by far the highest pupillage success rate. If only the BSB would force others to follow Kaplan Law School’s lead…
The Kaplan #BPTC (which has an entry test) has by far the best pupillage ratio https://t.co/SFUoO5IOC3 pic.twitter.com/jpseN6FFap
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) January 8, 2014
The BPTC monitoring visits in full for 2011-2013 can be found here.
