Aspiring barristers ready to begin the University of Hertfordshire’s vocational bar training course this autumn will have to defer entry or switch to another training provider following an intervention by the bar's regulator.
In a press release yesterday, the Bar Standards Board announced it had decided to ‘vary’ the university’s authorisation to deliver vocational bar training. ‘The BSB’s decision means that the university must now defer its next bar course intake to January 2024,’ the regulator said.
‘The BSB has made this decision in the interests of students. The university has cooperated with us and put a plan in place to strengthen a number of aspects of its course delivery to ensure that it is complying with the mandatory requirements in the authorisation framework. This decision provides time for these changes to be embedded.
‘The BSB will continue to work with the university to ensure the necessary improvements are implemented to enable the bar course to be offered in January 2024. Meanwhile the university is supporting students who had enrolled on the 2023/24 course either to defer entry to the bar course or to transfer to another provider.’
The University of Hertfordshire was granted authorisation in November 2021 to deliver vocational bar training and commenced its first bar course last September.
The BSB told the Gazette it was unable to comment on the issues that resulted in its decision to vary authorisation - but confirmed they related to the mandatory requirements set out in the regulator’s authorisation framework.
The BSB said it routinely uses a range of information to monitor authorised education and training organisations that are delivering the vocational component of bar training and inform its assessment of risk to determine whether a regulatory response is needed.
Such information includes visits to newly authorised training providers, reports from external examiners who provide specialist advice on the consistency of standards of the assessments set out by AETOs, data such as student performance in exams, and reflective reviews submitted by AETOs.
A University of Hertfordshire spokesperson said: ‘We are working closely with the Bar Standards Board to respond to their recommendations. We are proud of our focus on increasing accessibility and diversity within the profession, and we remain confident in the long-term successful delivery of our bar programmes.’
The Gazette has asked the university how many students were enrolled onto the 2023/24 vocational course.
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