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Law with business at the University of Exeter - Penryn campus

Hi! To anyone studying law with business at Penryn, I'd really appreciate if someone could answer any of the following questions:

1. What are the contact hours?
2. Due to the campus being small, is the quality of teaching worse than at Exeter due to fewer teaching staff etc.?
3. What's the difference between the professional placement option and the industry placement option?

Reply 1

NasreenBegum

Hi,

Generally we have at least 1 lecture and 1 seminar per module a week so roughly 8 hours give or take.

In terms of teaching I actually think the campus being smaller is a benefit, as we generally have less students in our cohort therefore we are able to get more support and assistance from our lecturers. I have heard stories about how 1 on 1 meetings with lecturers at Streatham Campus (Exeter) are practically impossible to get, which isn't the case here. Also we have quite a number of law lecturers here :smile: .

Doing a professional placement means that you would be working in a law firm or in general doing a legal placement whereas an industrial placement means that you would be working in any other field such as finance.

Reply 2

McGinger

Ask a Current University of Exeter Student! (Penryn Campus Student - Klaudia) - The Student Room

Reply 3

ExeterStudentRep

Official Rep

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi! To anyone studying law with business at Penryn, I'd really appreciate if someone could answer any of the following questions:
1. What are the contact hours?
2. Due to the campus being small, is the quality of teaching worse than at Exeter due to fewer teaching staff etc.?
3. What's the difference between the professional placement option and the industry placement option?

Hi Anonymous,

I am currently studying this course, so I can answer your questions!

What are the contact hours?

So every year it differs ever so slightly, but looking at first year this is what it looks like per term:

•

3 law module which operate in a 2 week cycle -> two ~1.5 hr lectures, a 2 hour seminar and a 1 hr firm meeting (this technically isn't classed as a contact hour as it is conducted without a lecturer).

•

1 business module - 1 hour lecture and 1 hour seminar everyweek.

So roughly (depending on how the law cycles fall and whether you could firm meetings) it is about 11 hours a week.

Due to the campus being small, is the quality of teaching worse that at Exeter due to fewer staff etc.?

Actually looking at the newest stats from the NSS survey you will find that it is the other way around. In total we may have 'fewer staff', but we also have a much smaller cohort (~150 students a year) meaning that the ratio is actually more beneficial towards student on the Penryn campus as there are fewer students per lecturer. Having a small cohort is actually prioritised as it means that the teaching can be more hands on and experiencial. An example of this is that in your first year you conduct two mock trials (with actual circuit judges), something that they can't do in Exeter as they do not have the time and capacity.

What's the difference between professional placement option and the industry placement option?

Honestly...? There isn't much of a difference and for the most part they are interchangeable. The way it was explained to me it that professional is when you go and work at a law firm for the year. But if you are trying to chose one or the other I wouldn't worry about it as both go through the exact same process and worse case you can change it up until you go on placement.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any follow ups! 🙂

Klaudia
University of Exeter Student Ambassador

(edited 3 months ago)