Private university goes into competition with degrees in law and accountancy

BPP, which already runs law and accountancy courses for postgraduates in Leeds is offering 100 undergraduate degree places in the city this September.

Its fees will be lower than traditional universities and students can choose the timetables they want – with it being possible to complete full degree courses in two years by working through the summer.

The new law and business law degrees will start in September with 100 places. From next year the college expects to be able to offer “competitively priced” courses when the rest of the higher education sector is forced to hike up fees up toward £9,000-a-year to cope with Government funding cuts of £2.9bn.

The new law courses for school leavers in Yorkshire are only the beginning of its expansion plans – with a vision of teaming up with further education colleges across the region to deliver undergraduate degrees in law, business, teacher training and healthcare.

BPP’s Yorkshire-born chief executive Carl Lygo told the Yorkshire Post they were focusing talks on towns in the region that were not already served by a university.

“I am from Doncaster so that gives you some idea of the type of place we are looking at,” he added.

BPP claims to be one of the main private providers of higher education in the country already with centres across the UK including two in Leeds. Law courses are taught at its base in Whitehall Quays and the accountancy classes take place in Park Row.

However until now the most of its work has been post-graduate courses and professional training.

Now it is preparing to compete with traditional universities for school leavers. Mr Lygo added: “The key is to stick to what you are good at. For us this is career focused training.

“We have just moved into health and we are now looking into delivering teacher training.”

BPP’s Leeds managing director Sammy Casen-Marten said: “BPP is well known in the thriving legal community in Leeds for its high-quality postgraduate law training... We’re really pleased to now be offering students the opportunity to study our career-focused undergraduate degrees, which are taught by a mix of academics and professionals with real experience of legal practice.”