16 November 2017

UCT Law Faculty challenges alarmist  CHE report and is confident of retaining LLB accreditation

The UCT Law Faculty is surprised and concerned by the outcome of the National Review of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme. As a global top 100 law school and as the top law school in South Africa, we note that our graduates are in high demand from law firms across the country, and the findings are at odds with the performance of our graduates. This long-standing reputation stands in stark contrast with this first ever accreditation process of law degrees by the CHE.

UCT further notes with concern that as this process is not yet completed, the releasing of this information needlessly places the institution in a bad light which could have been managed with greater sensitivity in these troubled times.

We note that the Faculty of Law has until May 2018 to respond to the Council on Higher Education’s findings.   The faculty is confident that we will be able to respond to the concerns raised, and retain our accreditation and continue to improve upon the excellent programmes offered within the faculty, including the LLB programme.

The faculty will be submitting its revised improvement plan within the next few weeks. We note the Council for Higher Education’s particular focus on excellence, ethics and equity,  and the critical need for transformation across the industry.  

These are all issues that the faculty has been deeply immersed in and almost takes for granted, and we suspect that our initial submission may not necessarily have captured those activities, discussions and reflections. We will certainly address the concerns raised in the report and we look forward to further engagement with them to continue improving upon our excellent LLB programme.