Council questions UCT law programme

LLB programme fails national review, accreditation threatened

THE UNIVERSITY of Cape Town is at loggerheads with the Council on Higher Education after the council called into question its LLB programme. The council said it would withdraw accreditation of UCT’s LLB programme along with that of other institutions after they failed a national review.

UCT said the council’s statement had put the institution in a bad light. The university said the information sent out was misleading and they were surprised and concerned by the outcome of the national review of the Bachelor of Law (LLB) course.

The council released notices to UCT, the University of Limpopo and the University of Zululand informing them of the decision.

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the institution was part of the top 100 law schools and as the top law school in the country, they noted that “our graduates are in high demand from law firms across the country, and the findings are at odds with the performance of our graduates. This long-standing reputation stands in stark contrast with this first ever accreditation process of law degrees by the CHE.

“UCT further notes with concern that as this process is not yet completed, the releasing of this information needlessly places the institution in a bad light which could have been managed with greater sensitivity in these troubled times.

“We note that the Faculty of Law has until May 2018 to respond to the CHE’s findings. The faculty is confident we will be able to respond to the concerns raised, and retain our accreditation and continue to improve upon the excellent programmes offered within the faculty, including the LLB programme.”

He said the faculty would be submitting its revised improvement plan within the next few weeks.

“We note the CHE’s particular focus on excellence, ethics and equity and the critical need for transformation across the industry.

“These are all issues the faculty has been deeply immersed in and almost takes for granted, and we suspect our initial submission may not necessarily have captured those activities, discussions and reflections.

“We will certainly address the concerns raised in the report and we look forward to further engagement with them to continue improving.”

Chief executive of the CHE, Professor Narend Baijnath, said the second phase of the LLB reviews was recently completed and the outcomes of the process were communicated to the institutions.

“They need to attend to the areas of improvement identified by the CHE and communicated to them. Withdrawal of the programme is really as a last resort and the most drastic step that can be taken, for there have to be fatal and numerous flaws in a programme.”

Baijnath said he could not comment on how students currently in the programme and those who will enter the programme will be affected as “it had not been contemplated as yet”.

“In any programme that has lost its accreditation, the usual procedure is for the institution to teach the programme out.”