Law with French Law BA (Oxford, King's, Queen Mary's, UCL, Exeter, Leicester etc.)

Currently looking into Law with French Law options. Reading into it, I notice that the courses vary quite a lot in terms of the level French qualification you receive. Some, such as King's, Queen Mary's, and Leicester offer a 4 year course with two years in France which leads to the Maîtrise en droit (Master 1), whilst others (such as UCL and Oxford) only have one year abroad which leads to lower level qualifications (certificat or licence 3).

I would be interested to hear from people who studied these courses about whether they felt the lower level qualifications were still worthwhile, or if it is better from a career point of view to get as high a qualification as possible on the French side, for say working for an international law firm.

Also, I would like to know the difference in tuition fees for UK student. Apparently if it is one year abroad it is an exchange, and only minimal tuition is paid to the home university, and nothing to the French one. However, on the joint degrees, such as King's or QML, what would the tuition payment be? I have looked in vain on the French university sites for this information.

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Reply 1

ExeterStudentRep

Official Rep

Original post

by odesapapa

Currently looking into Law with French Law options. Reading into it, I notice that the courses vary quite a lot in terms of the level French qualification you receive. Some, such as King's, Queen Mary's, and Leicester offer a 4 year course with two years in France which leads to the Maîtrise en droit (Master 1), whilst others (such as UCL and Oxford) only have one year abroad which leads to lower level qualifications (certificat or licence 3).
I would be interested to hear from people who studied these courses about whether they felt the lower level qualifications were still worthwhile, or if it is better from a career point of view to get as high a qualification as possible on the French side, for say working for an international law firm.
Also, I would like to know the difference in tuition fees for UK student. Apparently if it is one year abroad it is an exchange, and only minimal tuition is paid to the home university, and nothing to the French one. However, on the joint degrees, such as King's or QML, what would the tuition payment be? I have looked in vain on the French university sites for this information.
Thank you for any information you can provide.

Hi odespapa,

Whilst I cannot speak on the behalf of other universities, I am a second-year student studying Law and French Law at Exeter, so I hope I can give you some insight on the course here.

The programme is an award-winning dual-qualifying degree, recognised by the Franco-British Lawyers' Society. It involves spending 3 years in Exeter (Streatham Campus), followed by a year at the University of Rennes I, where you will study the Master 1 (maîtrise).

In Exeter, one of your modules that stretch across the whole year will be a French law module, and are mandatory. In first year, you will study French Constitutional Law. In second year, you will study French Administrative Law. In third year, you will study the French Law of Contract. The other modules will focus on English and Welsh law, save for EU law.

The French modules are taught and assessed in French, under French standards. This is to better prepare you for the year abroad. There is frequent feedback on your dissertations juridiques (legal essays) as well as your commentaires d'arrêt (case commentaries), which is really beneficial and directs you towards improvement. It is a challenging degree, but it is so rewarding.

For your abroad doing the maîtrise en droit, you would pay 15% of the full tuition fee to Exeter. The university also helps you with settling over in France for your year abroad, which is always reassuring, too.

Personally, I chose to do the maîtrise programme here due to financial considerations and because the staff are super friendly and helpful. There is a real desire for you to succeed here, so if you need any help or support, it is readily available.

I would recommend coming to an open day if you can. For Streatham Campus, these take place on Friday 30th May and Saturday 31 May (2025). Applications for these will open in the spring.

If you have any other questions, please do get in touch.

Grace
University of Exeter Student Ambassador.

Reply 2

username7394154

Original post

by odesapapa

Currently looking into Law with French Law options. Reading into it, I notice that the courses vary quite a lot in terms of the level French qualification you receive. Some, such as King's, Queen Mary's, and Leicester offer a 4 year course with two years in France which leads to the Maîtrise en droit (Master 1), whilst others (such as UCL and Oxford) only have one year abroad which leads to lower level qualifications (certificat or licence 3).
I would be interested to hear from people who studied these courses about whether they felt the lower level qualifications were still worthwhile, or if it is better from a career point of view to get as high a qualification as possible on the French side, for say working for an international law firm.
Also, I would like to know the difference in tuition fees for UK student. Apparently if it is one year abroad it is an exchange, and only minimal tuition is paid to the home university, and nothing to the French one. However, on the joint degrees, such as King's or QML, what would the tuition payment be? I have looked in vain on the French university sites for this information.
Thank you for any information you can provide.

Hi! Sorry I’m not at all someone studying at any of these unies but I’m in the same position as you as I have applied for law and French law. Unless you are French, francophone, or would like to pursue your study/career in France I do not think (but again this is not professional advice) that it really matters the degree of qualification you get In France (be it a maîtrise or a licence). Ofc it might be more appreciated to have a maîtrise in 4 years so do take it into account but unless you answer to the above then I would personally encourage you to take into account some other considerations. For example, university reputation, years in France, ho fluent in French you are, cost of uni, cost of living, course itself, location of unies.

To elaborate, I visited the Exeter open day, and it was quite clear that you do not need to be perfectly fluent in French at arrival and that you gain much more fluency while operating the course. Also, if you wish to spend more time in England than in France and have the typical (one) year abroad experience this course would ideal as it gives tou equal qualification to kings and queen mary without the 2 years.

On the other hand, if you really want to know more about France, if tou are connected to France in any way, shape or form, and would like to spend more than a year rhere, you might want to opt for Kcl and qmuol.

I would suggest that if tou can’t find abroad fee info online tou send them an email. But i would also advise to look into cost of living: living in London for 2/3 years and then going to live in Paris for 1/2 years will prove much more expensive probably than living in Leicestershire/Exeter and then Rennes. Both are very expensive cities to live in.

Also above level of qualification, it this is an important aspect to you, you might want to look into university reputation. Basing myself purely off of stereotypes: Exeter for example would have a better reputation in the UK but qmuol has better reputation internationally ( I live abroad and that is simply what I avec noticed when talking with my peers). Also Rennes is a very good school (about 15th in France) but Sorbonne/ Assas tie for about 1st/2nd place.

Please take into account which you would enjoy most would you rather live in a big, global city or in a smaller one ? More south or north? You can even take weather into account. Also which modules do you prefer?