Hi guys,

I recently completed an LL.M in I.P. at UCL and I want to share my experience with prospective students.

I was left extremely disappointed by the overall experience. With over 400 LL.M students, I couldn't help but feel that I was nothing more than a sheep in the herd. Classes were often too big to encourage any meaningful dialogue with professors and any attempts to contact them out of class were met with great reluctance.

But the real kicker is the lack of feedback or academic guidance which students receive. Despite being enrolled in three modules and writing a dissertation, I never once received any sort of perspective on my assessed course work from my professors. I was given a grade but no information as to what I did well or how I could improve it. There was no critique or constructive criticism whatsoever.

In one instance I even tried to arrange a meeting with one professor to discuss an essay that I had written in his course (which I never received any feedback on) and he flat out refused to meet me, saying he had "no obligation to do so." For a university of UCL's stature I found this incredibly frustrating and disheartening. The behaviour of my professors left me questioning the academic integrity of the school.

UCL is the third university that I have attended (the others are Trinity College Dublin and Emory University in Atlanta) and while being the highest ranked, it has been the least satisfying experience. I cannot say that I would recommend UCL because it feels like a money-making machine (420 mostly international LL.M students x £14,000 tuition = one big endowment)

If you have the choice I have friends who have had great experiences at KCL and LSE and I wish that I went to either one instead. But if you do choose UCL, buyer beware!

Please feel free to send me a message if you have any questions as I wish I had been privy to this information before starting.

K

hey... any idea about the litigation and dispute resolution faculty?

Sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience at UCL.

However, as a UCL LLM alumnus myself I think I should jump in to give some perspective. I dont question that you indeed underwent a terrible time while at UCL, but I cant say that my experience was exactly the same as yours.

I also chose three modules (in fact, I chose five as two of those were half modules). Four out of the five modules that I took on had about 20 students in each seminar. Although this cant be considered a very small group it did allow discussions and conversations with the professors. Most of the time, however, I felt students werent all that interested in engaging in those discussions.

One module specific had more than 50 students and that really made any efforts to have discussions during seminars impossible. As seminars ended up being just an exposition of what you shouldve read beforehand as part of your essential reading, it became quite a boring module. Nevertheless, on account of the high number of students enrolled on such module, they set up weekly tutorials over the second term. These tutorials had around 20 people and took place once a week in the second term. This significantly improved the quality of the module.

I didnt have to write any essay apart, of course, from the dissertation. So I cant really comment on course work feedback. I can say though that all my lecturers asked at some point for us to write answers to mock exam questions. And I got a feedback from all of them on those explaining what I shouldve done differently and what I should keep doing for the actual exam. So they did help us to prepare for the exams.

As for the dissertation, I must say you dont get as much guidance as you first think youre gonna get but overall I reckon my supervisor helped me out fairly with the dissertation. I had at least two meetings with her before choosing my topic and I had three meetings with her afterwards while I was writing. I didnt send the 3,000-word extract for her analysis so I obviously didnt get any feedback. But I know of people who did and actually had a strong input from their supervisors.

Well, that being said I believe my experience at UCL was quite different than yours. I can only say I am sorry you are so disappointed in the LLM program at UCL as I know it didnt come cheap

I do have to agree with you on one thing though: the student intake is growing each year (as this is quite a profitable activity for UK universities) so theres a real risk that the quality of teaching may plunge fast.

And I would report this professor who refused to meet you. This is something that you as a student shouldn't have to put up with...

Best,

hey beicon... what did you specialise in ? and do you have any inputs regarding the litigation and dipute resolution faculty ?

Hi. I decided not to specialize in any particular area even though all of my modules (except one) fell into the public international law specialization. Sorry but I don't have any inputs on the litigation and dispute resolution faculty... if I'm not mistaken though I remember this modules was taught in conjunction with Queen Mary....

Vinam sorry I didn't study any of the dispute resolution modules.

Beicon it seems like you got lucky with your course choice and your professors. I got feedback from my complaint from the Director of LL.M Taught Programmes at UCL today. Here it is:


"Dear _______
Thank you for your email.

I have looked into this matter and corresponded with Prof. Barendt and Prof. Robert Chambers, the Vice-Dean for Teaching and Learning and Prof Richard Rawlings who coordinates Quality Assurance on the LLM.

Faculty policy is that we offer feedback to students who fail, while feedback to students who pass is at the discretion of the course convenor. In this instance Prof Barendt has declined to offer you feedback on your grade. He is within his rights to do so and cannot be compelled to provide feedback.

I would suggest that at research-intensive universities, lecturers do not always have the resources in terms of time, to provide feedback to students that have passed assessments. The disadvantages of this are obvious. The advantage is that students are taught by world-leading academics who are teaching from their own research interests.

In a teaching and learning based institution, lecturers can employ a more generous policy to student feedback as teaching is their primary role. Again, the advantages of this are obvious, however students would not be necessarily learning from a research-intensive academic or author directly.

The policy in relation to feedback has been raised frequently through the faculty boards and committees and the agreed position is the current one. I can assure you that the well-argued position you put forward has been well ventilated at these committees and has had a large degree of support, however the majority of colleagues have supported a more limited feedback policy, preferring to create more time for the research that UCL is renowned for.

I know that you will be disappointed with my answer. I can assure you that your paper was marked and moderated in line with our rigorous assessment policy.

If you wish to pursue a complaint the procedure is for you to raise a grievance with UCL centrally. This would be dealt with outside the faculty. The link for further information in this regard is:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/part-5/student-grievance-procedure

Let me know if you need anything else.
Yours sincerely
Mark Blakely"


After paying 15,500 in tuition I want more than an "assurance" that my essary has been marked. I want the hard-copy back with the professor's notes in the margin. Clearly, this is too much from UCL.

So if you do want to go to UCL and want spend a ridiculous amount of money to learn from research-intensive academics and authors, while not benefiting from any academic dialogue, let me give you a piece of advice - buy their books and save yourself the money.

What a lame excuse they've given you, eh?

Anyways, I understand that you're pissed off and you've got all the reasons to be...

It's not too much to ask to get at least a copy of your essay and exams with the professor's comments... that should be in fact the rule!

Hello everyone,

It's not too much to ask to get at least a copy of your essay and exams with the professor's comments... that should be in fact the rule!

Oh Flori it gets worse... I contacted my Dissertation supervisor on 24 November to see if I could meet with her to discuss the merits/fallacies of the thesis which I submitted in September or, at the very least, collect a comment sheet from her at the graduate office. Her response?

"I am currently on maternity leave, returning in July 2012.

Best wishes,
Ilanah Fhima"


The school is a joke.

I do not fault her for being pregnant, but why is is there not a system in place whereby a professor going on maternity leave is restricted from supervisory duties due to their restricted capacity?

Why did it take three weeks to respond?

Why, if she can read and grade my Dissertation, is she not able to provide feedback?