LLB (Hons)

Law including Foundation Year

This course introduces key legal ideas and thinking while helping you build academic skills, confidence and clarity. You’ll explore law in context and develop the skills needed to succeed in degree level study and future legal pathways.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    M00F

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £5,760*

  • International students

    £16,800*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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You’ll engage with real legal themes, from criminal justice to professional practice, through practical activities and reflection. Learning is shaped around discussion, applied tasks and teamwork, helping you think critically, communicate effectively and strengthen your understanding of law. This foundation prepares you for the LLB and future legal opportunities with curiosity and purpose.

Designed for

Students who do not currently meet the admissions criteria for direct entry onto a the LLB (Hons) Law degree or students returning to education who wish to build their confidence, and the academic skills needed to progress into higher education.

Career paths

  • Solicitor
  • Barristers
  • Police
  • Magistrate
  • Business advisor
  • HR professional
  • Entrepreneur 

Skills taught

  • Critical thinking
  • IT Skills
  • Debating
  • Researching
  • Independent learning

Course Highlights

Develop key skills

Develop a range of skills and qualities that will enrich your learning in year one and beyond.

Taught by experts

Students are taught by academics with relevant industry experience who are supportive and dedicated to helping them succeed.

Excellent on-campus facilities

Students on our law degree will learn in our award-winning Legal Advice Clinic, Hydra Suite and moot courtroom.

Progress onto a full degree

Progress directly onto our professionally accredited LLB (Hons) Law degree as you prepare for a successful legal career.

Module Overview

Gain academic confidence and a critical understanding of crime and justice. Through investigation, media analysis, teamwork and reflection, you’ll develop practical skills and ethical awareness to prepare for degree-level study and future careers.

Starting your University Journey  
Develop academic, personal and professional skills for university study. You’ll reflect on your progress, build confidence, and create an evidence-based portfolio to support your future learning.  

Crime, Media and Culture  
Focusing on crime and justice in society, this module examines how media, identity and public opinion shape understanding and policy. You’ll engage with key debates and propose evidence-informed reforms.  

Inside the Investigation: Understanding Crime and Policing Practice 
An introduction to criminal investigations in England and Wales, exploring investigative processes, ethical decision-making and professional practice. You’ll apply investigative thinking to realistic scenarios across different types of crime.  

The Impact Challenge: Shaping Real World Solutions  
The Impact Challenge is a Foundation Year project module where students work in teams to tackle real-world issues, developing solutions through research, curiosity, teamwork, and responsible problem-solving. 

For details of the modules you will study after successful completion of the Foundation Year, please see the main course page.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You will learn through active, real-world learning experiences that encourage curiosity, collaboration and independent thinking. Teaching helps you understand how learning works at university, while building academic confidence, critical thinking and self-reflection. You’ll work independently and with others through discussions, practical activities and guided reflection, supported by digital tools. Regular feedback helps you recognise progress and plan next steps, supporting wellbeing, resilience and a strong sense of belonging as you prepare for a higher level of study.  

How you'll be assessed

You’ll be assessed in different ways, including short tasks, coursework, presentations, and group work. Early assessments are designed to support your learning and help you understand what is expected at university. Most assessments are coursework-based and help you develop key skills such as research, academic writing, teamwork, and communication. You’ll also reflect on your progress and use university systems and digital tools. Clear, timely feedback will help you understand how to improve and support your next steps. 

Placements and work experience

After progressing from the foundation year, you’ll have placement opportunities. Our staff work with prestigious legal services companies offering valuable work placements to encourage you to practise your new legal skills and experience a real workplace environment. Clinical legal education is included in our courses, giving you access to justice under the supervision of practising solicitors and lecturers in the university’s pro bono Legal Advice Clinic. We have strong connections with the industry and host a range of expert guest speakers who’ll provide context and real-life examples relating to the topics you study. We also have working lunches and networking opportunities available for our students.

Facilities

Our impressive law facilities at our Treforest campus include our legal advice clinic and the Hydra simulation centre, where students learn whilst practising. We have a moot courtroom on campus to help put your theoretical studies into practice and get a feel for the job after university. Most lectures and classroom sessions will be held at the Pontypridd Campus in Treforest, just a 20-minute drive from Cardiff. 

Student Stories

Law student Brandon, smiles away from the camera in the Moot courtroom
My employment Law journey at USW

Brandon Rees

Law student

Law student Emily, smiles away from the camera in the Moot courtroom
Pursuing my lifelong dream in Law

Emily Harding

Law student

A law student smiles while seated in the moot court
Aiming high with a Law degree from USW

Gayanga Shacheni

Law student

Shayla smiles at camera with lecture hall seats behind her. She has long dark hair and is wearing a white vest
Turning my passion for Criminal Law into reality

Shayla Virgo

Law student

Law student Brandon, smiles away from the camera in the Moot courtroom
Accelerating my legal career at USW

Kayode Aseweje

Law graduate

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Many of our graduates from the LLB degree go on to postgraduate study as they look to progress further in their legal education. If you’re thinking about joining the Bar, you’ll be able to move to a Bar Training Course, or if you want to finish the CILEX Level 6 Diploma in Legal Practice, you can do that too.

If you’re considering going into a job, you can move on to qualify as a solicitor with the LLM Professional Practice and prepare for the Solicitors Qualification Exams (SQE). Several of our law graduates choose roles in legal technology, social work, police, third-sector organisations, business, finance and HR to name a few.

Industry partners

We work with the legal services sector to provide our LLB Law students with valuable work placements including at the Senedd, Citizens Advice, RCT Council and Hugh James.

Once you have progressed onto the full degree, you will have the opportunity to apply for a one-year work placement after your second year of undergraduate study or a shorter placement of up to three months between your second and third year. It’s a great option if you want a mixture of academic and practical learning, teaching and assessment.

Careers support

Our faculty is proud of their open-door policy, supporting students throughout their studies. Our team will help with CV writing, applying for jobs, confidence in interviews and navigating the recruitment process.

The USW Careers Service is on hand to support you throughout your studies, with guidance on writing your CV, applying for jobs, mastering interviews and navigating the recruitment process. We regularly host skills workshops and careers fairs to connect you with future employers and equip you with the tools to progress.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 48 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: DD to exclude General Studies
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass
  • Access to HE: Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points.
  • T Level: Pass (C and above)

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances. 

Relevant personal work/life experience will be considered.

Please note that whilst this course does not require a DBS Check for entry, some professions will not consider candidates who have certain types of criminal convictions.    Therefore, if you have a criminal conviction and you are considering a particular career path we would recommend that you check with the relevant professional body or refer to their recruitment policy to make sure that your conviction will not disadvantage you.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

Foundation Year Tuition Fee

Where applicable, the Tuition Fee for international students is as listed in the fees section above

Further Information

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

Fees and Funding

Additional Costs

Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of stationery, printing, or equipment during your foundation year.  For costs after you progress to year 1 of your degree programme, please see the list below.

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
 

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
The University's Ty Crawshays building at Treforest, Pontypridd.
Pontypridd Campus, Treforest
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation