Shorter, Super Intense LPC: When 7 into 9 just doesn’t go

From The Lawyer 10/01/11:

BPP Law School has bowed to student demands by becoming the first LPC provider to launch a fast-track LPC to all students, beginning in August 2011.

The condensed course will cram the standard nine-month offering into seven months, but will cost the same (£12,500 in London) and require students to have shorter study breaks, working through the summer and winter holidays.

BPP dean Peter Crisp said: “We’re moving away from the mindset that programmes should be designed around the needs of the ­faculty rather than around the needs of students.

“I think students are going to welcome the opportunity to do the course in a shorter timeframe and will welcome the flexibility, enjoy the intensity of the programme and be ­better prepared for work.”

Enjoy the intensity? Are you kidding me?

Be better prepared for work? Well in the sense they’re absolutely ran into the ground, thoroughly burnt out and on the cusp of an unhealthy psychosis, yes, this new super-intense LPC will prepare students beautifully for the world of work.

 

The new course will differ from the accelerated ­consortium LPC as it will use the same content as the standard LPC without the City firms’ tailor-made additional subjects. It will, however, have some extra weekly preparation work and face-to-face teaching sessions.

The course will run twice yearly, but access will be ­limited by a minimum entry requirement of a 2:1 degree [and a propensity for torture presumably?]

Never mind that; I think it should come with a compulsory psychological assessment!!!

 

Crisp added: “It will be intensive and not necessarily for all students, as some will find it a struggle and need more time to absorb information to apply skills.”

The fast-track course is subject to validation by the SRA.

I don’t really get the point of this course; 7 months rather than 9 months is hardly a huge saving. Are those 8 weeks really that important?

And isn’t the LPC intense enough? The regular course isn’t exactly sedate. I can understand the desire to get through it as quickly as possible but I think this is an instance where 7 into 9 just won’t go.

I think the LPC is one of those get-through-it-at-all-costs courses, where there are few points awarded for style.  But is it really a good idea to make things even more difficult for yourself going hell-for-leather to get through the academic phase of your career as quickly as possible?

Anyhow, as an aside, some of the comments in the article are superbly funny:

“Great, that means all those LPC graduates without a Training Contract can get on the dole 2 months sooner”

You cynic!

 

“softies the lot of them ... :)
bring back the LSF [Law Society Finals] - let's have some exams worthy of the name; they'll soon be giving away legal qualifications inside cereal boxes”

Ah... no post would be complete without a “in my day” type of comment! ;-)

 

“Requirement of a 2:1 degree in what? basketweaving, applied drama, needlework? Come on, everyone knows that a 2:1 these days is no guarantee of quality. Peter Crisp needs to wake up and realise that BPP know nothing about creating lawyers, only making money.”

Oooh. Talk about lighting the blue touch paper...