Law schools split over disclosing degree awarding power report

BPP law school has declared that it will not publish the report which led to it being granted degree awarding powers.

Meanwhile, the College of Law - which also has degree awarding powers - has asked the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to publish the equivalent report made on them, and received permission from the body to do so.

Unlike universities, neither BPP nor the College of Law is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FIA), meaning the disclosure of such information is not required by law.

Peter Crisp, dean of BPP law school, commented:

"The QAA report is marked ‘confidential: not for publication or disclosure' and we're not going behind that. In any case, the terms of our grant are public knowledge."

However, College of Law CEO Nigel Savage suggested that it is important for prospective students to be able to see the report:

"Currently students have little information to go on to distinguish legal education providers. So the opportunity to see an independent review would clearly be beneficial to them."

The College of Law - which became the first non-university to be given the power to award degrees in England and Wales in 2006 - is a registered charity. BPP - granted degree awarding powers in 2007 - is part of a plc, although has agreed to be taken over by US-based Apollo Global, a joint venture between Apollo Group and private equity house The Carlyle Group.

For more on this story, see the Charon QC blog.