BPP asks BVC students to consider deferring
25 September 2009
The Bar Standards Board has asked BPP to push some of its students back a year, because its Bar Vocational Course is over-subscribed.

The college was clearly so keen to pack in the students (regardless of whether they'd get a job at the end of it or not) that it's taken on more than it has space for. So BPP was forced to write to students this week offering them the chance to defer until 2010. And to encourage them to do so, the college has offered a guaranteed place on the 2010 course and a 15% reduction in fees for those who take up the offer. That amounts to a discount of over £2,000 for full time students.

A wannabe barista training yesterday

The numbers of students being taken on each year at various law colleges has long been cause for concern, with the Law Society even trying to warn them off. Yet despite the fact that year on year, the number of students taking the BVC and LPC far outstrips the number of pupillages and training contracts available it seems neither the colleges nor the regulators will do anything about it.

A spokeswoman for the Bar Standards Board said that it was "something they were looking into". Meanwhile, the ever dynamic Law Society agreed that "whether an uncapped and open market is in present circumstances operating in the interests of students as opposed to course providers is a question that should be asked". But is the Law Society going to ask it? Or even, careful now, attempt to answer it? Er, no, not really.