January 19, 2009
Story by: Wenee Yap
Photo by: Jessica Evans
For the third year in a row, UTS: Law has been singled out for its excellence in teaching and learning by Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard. Named as one of only four universities to achieve a Band A1 ranking in the category of Business, Law and Economics, the announcement stands as recognition of UTS: Law's best-practice teaching methods, flexible study options which include PLT-in-your-degree, and graduates who are confident, work-ready critical thinkers with a strong social conscience. For a relatively young law school (UTS: Law recently celebrated its 20th year of providing progressive tertiary education), it is an impressive accolade.
The Minister for Education will use the rankings to distribute more than $74 million through the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund to universities across the nation, rewarding high achievers in the categories of educational excellence and improvement. The UTS Faculty of Law has been recognised as a top-tier Band A1 legal education provider for 3 of the 4 years since the Fund's establishment in 2006.
In reaching these rankings, universities were assessed across levels of student satisfaction, retention rate and full-time graduate employment figures. The Expert Panel which was responsible for making recommendations to the Federal Education Minister highlighted UTS alongside 3 other A1 ranked universities for special mention in its final report, congratulating them for performing "very well overall."
Professor Paul Redmond, well known for his formative contributions to corporate law literature and corporate social responsibility and serving as the inaugural Sir Gerard Brennan Professor, stressed the active, above-and-beyond style of teaching at UTS: Law. "Teaching is not a passive handing down of mosaic tablet. There must be a sense of joy and love of learning." Intrinsic motivation encouraged during these vital formative years of legal education clearly pays off in practice - UTS: Law graduates enjoy an enviable employment rate upon completion, going on to apply their talents within government policy-making, non-government organisations and community work, or in the offices of major law firms, domestic and international.
With the introduction of the new Master of Laws (LLM) in 2009, these latest Federal Government rankings serve to cement the UTS Faculty of Law's reputation as a respected educator of ambitious, highly gifted and ethically aware social, political and professional leaders.
