Principles of Law PGCert

Postgraduate
Conversion course

Two students discussing something with another person looking towards them

Aimed primarily at graduates from non-law courses and overseas, this course aims to help you discover the key principles and concepts of the law of England and Wales and prepare for a career in law.

Year of entry

2025-26

Location

Coventry University (Coventry)

Study mode

Full-time
Part-time

Duration

1 year part-time
1 semester full-time

Course code

FBLT185

Start date

September 2025
May 2026

How to apply

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At Coventry University, we continuously review the courses we offer to ensure we reflect industry-relevant emerging best practice and technology. As a result, this course is undergoing continuous improvement assessment and will be launched with a renewed curriculum starting in September 2025. Module content and titles will be updated. Course title, learning outcomes and assessments may also change. We expect our new curriculum to be fully updated by May 2025. Please return to this page to see the final course details.

Course overview

Are you based in the UK or overseas aspiring for a career in law but feel you may not be able to have one because you don’t have a law degree? This course is designed to help you on the road to becoming a lawyer by providing you with a basic grounding in law.

This course is designed to:

help you acquire the knowledge and understanding of private, public and chancery law if you have not studied law at degree level and aspire to progress on to the SQE/CPQ preparation course
develop your ability to apply legal knowledge and skills to complex authentic legal scenarios
enhance your transferable graduate and employability skills, particularly as they relate to the legal profession.

Graduates of other disciplines, or non-UK Law degrees should use this course to learn the key principles of UK Law prior to undertaking Coventry University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Understanding Legal Practice, the LLM Professional Legal Practice, or any other SRA preparation course.

5 QS Stars for Teaching and Facilities

QS Stars University Ratings

Ranked 9th Modern University in UK by the Times

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025

Ranked 8th for Overall Satisfaction in PTES

Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 2024

Why you should study this course

This course will help you:

become proficient in a wide range of legal subjects
enable you to progress onto an SQE preparation course without having to undertake a graduate diploma in law or other law conversion course
fit studying around your work requirements or other commitments
learn from academics and qualified professional practitioners with experience of the area of law and practice relevant to each module studied (staff subject to change)
get access to Coventry Law School’s Raising the Bar scheme that offers you the opportunity to network with members of and gain insight into the legal profession.

Memberships

International Association of Law Schools

Coventry Law School is a member of the International Association of Law Schools, an association of around 160 law schools from over 55 countries, representing around 7,500 law faculty members. Having this status allows you to access a variety of international experiences, including with our partner institutions across the world.

European Law Faculties Association (ELFA)

Coventry Law School is currently a member of the European Law Faculties Association with over 250 members from Europe and beyond.

British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association

Coventry Law School is currently a member of British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association, one of the largest Technology Law associations in Europe.

These memberships are renewed annually and there is currently no intentions for these memberships to laps. However if our membership is not renewed for any reason, we would notify applicants and students as soon as possible.

Collaborations

Central England Law Centre

Coventry Law School collaborates with the Central England Law Centre in order to offer a powerful professional element to your learning, through our Law Employment and Advocacy clinics. Students who participate in the clinics get involved with everything that the solicitors do at the Law Centre with supervisors who are currently working in practice and experts in specific areas of law. They get hands-on-experience doing reserved legal activities, providing supervised advice and assistance to members of the public.

Changes in the legal profession has made it easier to start a career in law

What you'll study

The modules outlined below are intensive modules designed to equip you with the knowledge and understanding of legal principles required to progress onto advanced study in preparation for examinations with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and/or CILEX professional stages (CPQ) (subject to any other entry requirements).

Each module gives you the opportunity to examine current legal issues that legal professionals are likely to face.

Modules

Principles of Public Law – 20 credits

Cover key principles of public law and criminal law. The public law aspects examine how the UK constitution operates, including the impact of global influences, such as the EU and European Convention on Human Rights. The criminal law parts help you understand the regulatory aspects of criminal law, how the state deals with offences, what constitutes an offence and potential defences.

Compulsory

Principles of Private Law – 20 credits

Principles of Chancery Law – 20 credits

Examine the legal principles governing land and equity. The land law aspects of the module examine the various ways of ‘owning’ land and includes consideration of the law applicable to landlords and tenants. Equity will explore the various types of trust, including those that apply to the family home and commercial properties. This will involve considerations of the creation, operation and termination of trusts as they apply in these different contexts.

Compulsory

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.

How you'll learn

This Postgraduate Certificate in Principles of Law can be taken over one semester full-time or up to 1 year part-time.

Teaching and learning methods may include:

lectures
seminars
tutorials
presentations
group projects
workshops.

Teaching contact hours

On this course you can normally expect 2 hours of on demand online lectures, 2 x 2 hour synchronous workshops, 2 hours guided and 12 hours self-guided study per module.

As an innovative university, we use different teaching methods, including online tools and emerging technologies. So, some of your teaching hours and assessments may be delivered online.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using portfolios relating to each of the areas of law explored in each module. These portfolios may comprise of a combination of Multi Choice Question (MCQ) tests and short answer questions.

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

Entry requirements

An undergraduate degree 2:2 or above (or international equivalent) in any discipline.

We recognise a breadth of qualifications; speak to one of our advisers today to find out how we can help you.

Select your region to find detailed information about entry requirements:

You can view our full list of country specific entry requirements on our Entry requirements page.

Alternatively, visit our International hub for further advice and guidance on finding in-country agents and representatives, joining our in-country events and how to apply.

An undergraduate degree 2:2 or above (or international equivalent) in any discipline.

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.5 overall, with no component lower than 6.0

If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course. For more information on our approved English language tests visit our English language requirements page.

Fees and funding

Student	Full-time	Part-time
UK	2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees -£3,733 per year	Request fee information
International	2025/26 fees TBC 2024/25 fees -£6,683 per year	Not available

For advice and guidance on tuition fees³and student loans visit our Postgraduate Finance page and see the university's Tuition Fee and Refund Terms and Conditions.

We offer a range of International scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our International Scholarships page.

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as accommodation and living costs, recommended reading books, stationery, printing and re-assessments should you need them.

*Irish student fees

The rights of Irish residents to study in the UK are preserved under the Common Travel Area arrangement. If you are an Irish student and meet the residency criteria, you can study in England, pay the same level of tuition fees as English students and utilise the Tuition Fee Loan.

**EU Support Bursary

Following the UK's exit from the European Union, we are offering financial support to all eligible EU students who wish to study an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree with us full-time. This bursary will be used to offset the cost of your tuition fees to bring them in line with that of UK students. Students studying a degree with a foundation year with us are not eligible for the bursary.

How do you know if you need to pay UK or international tuition fees?

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Your fee status determines your tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available to you. The rules about who pays UK (home) or international (overseas) fees for higher education courses in England are set by the Department for Education. The regulations identify all the different categories of student who can insist on paying the home rate. The regulations can be difficult to understand, so the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) has provided fee status guidance to help you identify whether you are eligible to pay the home or overseas rate.

If you meet all the criteria required by any one category, including any residence requirements, your institution must charge you the home rate. You only need to find one category that you fit into.

Facilities

Moot Room

Our Moot Room gives you the opportunity to develop those vital and practical legal skills. You can practise your legal skills in a realistic setting, as well as having the chance to take part in mooting competitions.

Legal Clinic

Use the Legal Clinic to develop your practical legal skills and help you stand out in your future career. You will have access to 'real' clients and work alongside trained solicitors and lawyers.

A lawyer stands in a court room, with people behind we assume make up the jury, and two judges to his left

Routes into a Legal Career

Find out more about how Coventry University can kick start your legal career through our preparation courses.

Careers and opportunities

On successful completion of the course you will be able to:

Understand and critically evaluate key UK legal principles, concepts, and rules and apply them to complex authentic problems to draw reasoned conclusions.
Develop knowledge of the professional ethical requirements for the legal profession and apply these to all areas of your study.
Communicate effectively and professionally, by conveying and explaining legal information, ideas and arguments in appropriate contexts.
Identify and critically evaluate relevant information from primary and secondary legal sources, using both digital and non-digital resources, whilst adhering to principles of academic integrity.
Understand the role and responsibilities of the various branches of the legal profession and how the UK legal qualifications apply both in the UK and around the world.

This course is designed to facilitate a graduate moving into a career as either a solicitor or CILEX Lawyer and as such, equips you with the relevant legal knowledge to progress to the LLM Professional Legal Practice, PGDip Understanding Legal Practice or other SRA preparatory course.

Where our graduates work

Successful graduates of this course have gone on to work for companies including:

DAC Beachcroft
NFU Mutual
PwC
Deloitte
Linklaters
Countrywide Tax and Trust Corporation
Oracle
Squire Patton Boggs
Stobbs
Co-op Legal Services

Further study

How to apply

UK students

To apply to study for a postgraduate course at Coventry University, you can apply online.

Full-time applications

Part-time applications

For further support or more information about your course get in touch with us today.

+44 (0)24 7765 2222

ukadmissions@coventry.ac.uk

Complete our contact form.

International students

Full-time international students should apply directly to the university. Please read our application pages to find out your next steps to apply.

How to apply

For further support for international applicants applying for postgraduate degrees view our International hub.

You can also download our international mini guide for an overview of study options and why you should study with us.

Get in touch with us today for further advice and guidance.

+44 (0)24 7765 2152

applications.io@coventry.ac.uk

Complete our contact form.

Disclaimers

Coventry University together with Coventry University London, Coventry University Wrocław, CU Coventry, CU London, CU Scarborough, and Coventry University Online come together to form part of the Coventry University Group (the University) with all degrees awarded by Coventry University.

¹Accreditations, partnerships and memberships

The majority of our courses have been formally recognised by professional bodies, which means the courses have been reviewed and tested to ensure they reach a set standard. In some instances, studying on an accredited course can give you additional benefits such as exemptions from professional exams (subject to availability, fees may apply. See the relevant body website for more details). Accreditations, partnerships, exemptions and memberships are subject to successful renewal in accordance with the relevant bodies’ standard review process and subject to the university maintaining the same high standards of course delivery. If the accreditation, recognition or membership of this course changes, we will seek to notify applicants and students as soon as possible.

Where relevant, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) module content is undergoing assessment by the CMI to confirm that all criteria are met to the required standard. Whilst it is expected that students who successfully pass the module will be eligible to be considered by CMI for the CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice as an additional qualification, we cannot confirm this until the accreditation is approved. This is a normal part of the continuous improvement process for our courses to ensure they remain up-to-date and reflect best practice.

²UK and international opportunities

Please note that we are unable to guarantee any UK or international opportunities (whether required or optional) such as internships, work experience, field trips, conferences, placements or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be unpaid and/or subject to additional costs (which could include, but is not limited to, equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable travel, public authority guidance, decisions or orders and visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand any visa requirements, please contact the International Office.

³Tuition fees

The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated in the above table for the first Academic Year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For UK (home) students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation.

For international students, we may increase fees each year, but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation. If you defer your course start date or have to extend your studies beyond the normal duration of the course (e.g. to repeat a year or resit examinations) the University reserves the right to charge you fees at a higher rate and/or in accordance with any legislative changes during the additional period of study.

⁴Facilities

Facilities are subject to availability. Access to some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) may vary from those advertised and/or may have reduced availability or restrictions where the university is following public authority guidance, decisions or orders.

Student Contract

By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the current 2024/2025 contract is available on the website for information purposes however the 2025/2026 contract will apply for the 2025/2026 intake. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.