This program provides an opportunity to obtain two professional degrees. It allows students to add the professionally recognised Law program to the professionally accredited Planning program offered by the Faculty of the Built Environment.

Duration/Award
The program is a seven year full-time combined program leading to the award of the two degrees of Bachelor of Planning and Bachelor of Laws (BPlan LLB).

Because the Planning program contains a percentage of open electives which can be replaced by Law courses, the combined program requires only four additional sessions of study to gain both qualifications. In general, this study is taken concurrently with the BPlan program and both can be completed in a minimum of seven years, consisting of twelve academic sessions (six years), plus two sessions of compulsory Work Experience. This compares with the five-year BPlan program, which consists of eight academic sessions and two sessions (12 months) of compulsory Work Experience.

Although Work Experience is normally undertaken after the completion of five academic sessions, BPlan LLB students may elect to undertake the one year (two sessions) of compulsory Work Experience required for the award of the single BPlan degree after the completion of their BPlan and LLB coursework.

In addition, students may undertake the compulsory Work Experience in flexible ways (subject to the approval of the Planning and Urban Development Program), thereby reducing the overall length of the BPlan LLB Program.

Entry Requirements
The combined program is open to students who satisfy both the Planning and Law entry conditions. Students may enter directly in Year 1 or may apply to transfer from the Planning program after the completion of one year. Entry on this basis is competitive and is based on a combination of UAI and tertiary results. Transfer after the second year may result in the student taking more than the minimum time to complete the combined degree.

Organisation
The BPlan LLB course is administered by the Faculty of Law. The Faculty requires the student to obtain approval of the Planning and Urban Development Program in the School of the Built Environment for the Planning components of their program. The final program and timetable must be approved by the Head of the Planning and Urban Development Program.

On completion of this progam, students will have attained a sound knowledge base in the fields of both Law and Planning.

Approved Sequence of Study

Students must complete Year 1 (48 units of credit) of the Planning program before attempting any courses from the Law program. In subsequent years students must study Planning courses in the sequence approved by the Faculty of the Built Environment and Law courses in a sequence approved by the School of Law.

An approved sequence can be found here:

Plan for Planning/Law 4707

Honours in Planning

The degree of Bachelor of Planning is awarded at either at Pass or Honours level after successful completion of a minimum of 144 units of credit from the Planning program and 48 units of credit from the Law program. These law courses are considered in the same manner as Faculty of the Built Environment electives for the purposes of the Honours calculation. The combined total units of credit is taken from student performance over 192 units of credit for the purpose of calculating Honours in Planning.

The Bachelor of Laws (LLB) may be awarded with the following levels of Honours:

Honours Class 1
Honours Class 2, Division 1
Honours Class 2, Division 2

The award of Honours in the LLB program is based on two requirements:

1) the Weighted Average Mark (WAM); and
2) satisfactory performance in written research.

1) Weighted average mark

In general terms, students who score a WAM in the top 10% of the graduating cohort in each semester will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 1; students with a WAM in the next 10% will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 2, Division 1; and students with a WAM in the next 10% will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 2, Division 2.
All courses taken towards the Law degree will be taken into account for written research requirements, but only those taken at UNSW Law School will count towards the WAM.

2) Satisfactory performance in written research

To demonstrate “satisfactory performance in written research” a student must complete one long substantial piece or three shorter substantial pieces of research writing in their program. In particular, a student must attain at least a credit grade either in LAWS 2423 Research Thesis (8 uoc); or (16 uoc); or in each of three (3) research papers of at least 3000 words each, taken in any three (3) courses in the LLB program.
At the time of enrolment in courses in their final semester, students who have demonstrated satisfactory performance in written research must submit an approved Honours Nomination Form to the Honours Committee detailing the basis upon which the research requirement has been met, and the course or courses in which the requisite grades were attained. If a student has not met the Honours research requirement before the end of their penultimate semester, he or she must notify the Honours committee of the LLB courses in which they propose to meet the requirement before the census date in their last semester.

Failures and Academic Misconduct

In no circumstances will a student be eligible for the award of Honours if he or she has

(a) failed more than one course in the LLB program;
(b) been found guilty of plagiarism or serious misconduct on more than one occasion.

See Program 4790 for Academic Rules relating to the Bachelor of Laws component of this combined degree program. A direct link is given below:

Bachelor of Laws 4790

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html