The BCL/MJur Programme

Courses on the BCL and MJur are taught using a combination of lectures, seminars, and tutorials. The availability of tutorials is a distinctive, unique feature of the BCL and the MJur when compared to other Masters in Law. In contrast to seminars and lectures, which usually include all students on any particular course, tutorials normally involve between two and four students meeting with a tutor, to assess the students’ own written work, or to discuss a particular topic in a much more individual and intensive way than is possible in larger groups. In most courses, a diet of four tutorials can be expected.

A gateway to research

MPhil

The Master of Philosophy in Law (MPhil) is a research degree available as an add-on to the taught BCL and MJur degrees. Admission to the MPhil is conditional upon good performance in the BCL or MJur. Students must normally take up their MPhil places straight after the BCL/ MJur, although a one-year deferral is sometimes possible.

student profile

[video link]

Kristin Van Zwieten,

Clifford Chance Associate Professor of Law and Finance

DPhil

Those interested in taking their research further can apply for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy after completion of the BCL or MJur. They can either be admitted to this status directly after taking the BCL/ MJur, in which case they will spend a year as a probationer research student and then take a qualifying test to become a full DPhil student; or they can move to DPhil status after completion of the MPhil, in which case the MPhil year can count instead of the year spent as a probationer research student, and the MPhil examination can double as the qualifying test. The Oxford DPhil is the largest and strongest doctoral programme in Law in the English-speaking world. The BCL/ MJur year creates an ideal platform from which to launch into serious research.