Images of Law, Law Schools and Legal Education

Learning in Law Annual Conference29 January 2011

Graeme Broadbent and Pamela Sellman Kingston University

“Most universities websites don’t show you information you want to know, they just show you the information that they want you to know. That’s quite stupid really.”

(Sixth former quoted in Times Higher Education19 August 2010)

Context

• Benefits of higher education• Benefits of studying law• From elite discipline in elite system to mass

discipline in mass system• Alignment• Deficit • Consumerism, customers and stakeholders• Competition

• Choice • Information/marketing• Identity• Measures• Two way process

Browne Report

• weekly hours of teaching contact time • the proportion of assessments by coursework• the percentage of graduates finding

employment at the end of their studies

List of criteria

• Fees• Class contact• Modules (core/optional)• Assessments

• Teaching staff and research• Facilities• Location/campus• Employability• League tables• Website – interactive/visual images

Rankings

• RAE

• QAA

• League tables

Fees

• Home and Overseas

• Bursaries

• Financial support

Accommodation

• On campus• Off campus

• Advice (rental agreements; legal advice)

• ‘fantastic’ – ‘comfy bed’

Location

• Friendly environment

• Proximity to Law Courts

• Historic areas

Facilities

• Library

• I.T.

• Moot rooms

Student services

• Finance• Accommodation• International students• Careers

Law programme

• Modules

• Assessments

• Contact hours

Teaching staff

• Profiles

• Professionally qualified; in practice

• Experts

Research

• Staff

• Postgraduate students

Testimonials

• Visual images

• Short videos

Employability

• Browne Report:

• Proportion of students in a full-time professional/managerial job one year after completing the course

• Proportion of students in employment in the first year after completing the course

• The average salary in the first year after completing the course

Visual images/interactive websites

• Photographs – campus; libraries;

• Students

• Interactive?

Conclusions

• Large amounts of material available• Material fragmented – often lack of links from

law pages to university/faculty pages• Navigation not always easy• Tension between providing information and

marketing• Selection of material significant and not

consistent across institutions

• Limited interactivity though increasing reference to facebook, twitter etc

• Generally more professional than when we looked in 2004

• Also greater use of graphics, videos etc• Not always up to date