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University of London module transfer

I’m a student at SOAS studying LLB law and since it’s part of the university of law, I want to transfer to birkbeck to do their legal clinic course. The issue is, I want to transfer next year, ie my third year, and the clinic course is a level 5 ie for second years. Does anyone know if it’s still possible to transfer?
Original post by hj001
I’m a student at SOAS studying LLB law and since it’s part of the university of law, I want to transfer to birkbeck to do their legal clinic course. The issue is, I want to transfer next year, ie my third year, and the clinic course is a level 5 ie for second years. Does anyone know if it’s still possible to transfer?


ask birkbeck

Would you be moving to a qualification that's a level 5 award - or is it just level 5 entry?
Original post by hj001
I’m a student at SOAS studying LLB law and since it’s part of the university of law, I want to transfer to birkbeck to do their legal clinic course. The issue is, I want to transfer next year, ie my third year, and the clinic course is a level 5 ie for second years. Does anyone know if it’s still possible to transfer?

I think you may be confusing some related concepts (and some unrelated).

SOAS and Birkbeck are not part of the University of Law, they're part of the University of London. As a result, it is possible on some programmes to take intercollegiate modules from another constituent member of the University of London. That is not transferring - you remain registered at your "home" institution (in this case SOAS) and just "borrow" the module from the other one (in this case Birkbeck). However, not all programmes allow you to take intercollegiate modules, and not all modules can be taken as an intercollegiate module even if you are on a programme that allows it. You could need to confirm those facts with the head of your course and whoever is running the module at the other uni. Your personal tutor would a good starting point.

If you want to straight up transfer to receive your degree from Birkbeck entirely (and take that module) that is a very different and significant undertaking. You would need to firstly contact Birkbeck to see if they will even accept third year transfers for law (or any course) - I suspect they won't be able to. If they do say yes you'd need to apply via UCAS and put your year of entry as year 3. Again though note - you will be graduating from Birkbeck, not SOAS. Additionally for a degree like law, this may affect the professional recognition of the course or accreditation, so this is something to discuss with your personal tutor to understand how that may affect your future plans.

In terms of the module being level 5, in either case (taking as an intercollegiate module at SOAS or taking as part of your programme after transferring to Birkbeck - subject to either of those being possible), whether you can take it in third year depends on your programme requirements. Usually most unis I've been at stipulate you need to take 90 credits in third year at level 6 or above (or whatever their equivalent description of that is), and you can't take any level 4 (first year equivalent) modules. This usually does allow you to take a level 5 module as an option as a result. Sometimes you just need to take the 90 credits of level 6 modules across the entire degree and not just in third year. You'll need to look at the regulations for your uni and programme - again discussing with your personal tutor would be the best person to ask about this in the first instance.

Note in terms of law clinic opportunities - these are not unique to Birkbeck. Birkbeck just allows you to gain credit towards your degree for them. Two of their partners you could also get involved with at SOAS: https://rli.sas.ac.uk/projects-0/refugee-law-clinic#project-partners and https://www.release.org.uk/vacancies . There is also the FRU which I understand any law finalist can potentially get involved with: https://www.thefru.org.uk/ . The SOAS Law Soc may also have more options for pro-bono and clinic work.
Reply 3
Original post by PQ
ask birkbeck
Would you be moving to a qualification that's a level 5 award - or is it just level 5 entry?


I’m moving into level 6, but the module I want to take is level 5 :frown:
Reply 4
Original post by artful_lounger
I think you may be confusing some related concepts (and some unrelated).
SOAS and Birkbeck are not part of the University of Law, they're part of the University of London. As a result, it is possible on some programmes to take intercollegiate modules from another constituent member of the University of London. That is not transferring - you remain registered at your "home" institution (in this case SOAS) and just "borrow" the module from the other one (in this case Birkbeck). However, not all programmes allow you to take intercollegiate modules, and not all modules can be taken as an intercollegiate module even if you are on a programme that allows it. You could need to confirm those facts with the head of your course and whoever is running the module at the other uni. Your personal tutor would a good starting point.
If you want to straight up transfer to receive your degree from Birkbeck entirely (and take that module) that is a very different and significant undertaking. You would need to firstly contact Birkbeck to see if they will even accept third year transfers for law (or any course) - I suspect they won't be able to. If they do say yes you'd need to apply via UCAS and put your year of entry as year 3. Again though note - you will be graduating from Birkbeck, not SOAS. Additionally for a degree like law, this may affect the professional recognition of the course or accreditation, so this is something to discuss with your personal tutor to understand how that may affect your future plans.
In terms of the module being level 5, in either case (taking as an intercollegiate module at SOAS or taking as part of your programme after transferring to Birkbeck - subject to either of those being possible), whether you can take it in third year depends on your programme requirements. Usually most unis I've been at stipulate you need to take 90 credits in third year at level 6 or above (or whatever their equivalent description of that is), and you can't take any level 4 (first year equivalent) modules. This usually does allow you to take a level 5 module as an option as a result. Sometimes you just need to take the 90 credits of level 6 modules across the entire degree and not just in third year. You'll need to look at the regulations for your uni and programme - again discussing with your personal tutor would be the best person to ask about this in the first instance.
Note in terms of law clinic opportunities - these are not unique to Birkbeck. Birkbeck just allows you to gain credit towards your degree for them. Two of their partners you could also get involved with at SOAS: https://rli.sas.ac.uk/projects-0/refugee-law-clinic#project-partners and https://www.release.org.uk/vacancies . There is also the FRU which I understand any law finalist can potentially get involved with: https://www.thefru.org.uk/ . The SOAS Law Soc may also have more options for pro-bono and clinic work.


Legend for those links thank u so much

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