Education provider BPP has announced plans to offer degree courses in law. The move comes after it became the first private sector company to be granted the power to award degrees.


Peter Crisp, chief executive of BPP law school, said the company is to offer from 2007/08 the opportunity for students to 'top up' their legal practice course (LPC) or bar vocational course (BVC), allowing them to graduate with an LLM in legal practice. Students will have to complete additional modules, however - the LPC or BVC on its own will not be enough.



BPP will also offer an LLM in commercial law from September 2008, and undergraduate degrees in law from 2009. 'What we are planning to do is focus on employer-led education,' Mr Crisp added.



BPP was handed the degree-awarding powers by the Privy Council after a three-year review and inspection by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.



The College of Law recently awarded its first-ever LLB degrees to some 599 students who have passed the graduate diploma in law and then either the BVC or LPC.



Philip Hoult