Admission to postgraduate law programmes by coursework

Admission to postgraduate law programmes by coursework

Closing date for applications:

LLM by Coursework/Postgraduate Diplomas in Law

Mandela Institute Certificate Courses
Please enquire from the Mandela Institute.

Eligibility for admission

In order to be admitted to postgraduate programmes by coursework in the School of Law, applicants have to meet the following criteria.

LLM by Coursework:
Average of 70% for undergraduate LLB

Postgraduate Diploma in Law:
Average of 65% for undergraduate LLB

Mandela Institute Certificate Courses:
Please enquire from the Mandela Institute.

Foreign applicants are subject to additional requirements, as set out below.

If you are not eligible:

In exceptional cases, applicants may be admitted on the basis of equivalent qualifications and/or extensive professional experience. For the LLM, demonstrated capacity for academic legal research (e.g. publications in accredited journals and presentations at academic conferences) will be a very important consideration. However such cases are rare.

In general we require applicants who are not eligible for the programme of their choice to complete Mandela Institute Certificate of Competence courses or (if admitted) Postgraduate Diploma courses instead. If you do well enough in these courses, you may be allowed to convert to the LLM or Postgraduate Diploma. In such cases, you may obtain credit for a maximum of 2 courses towards the LLM or Postgraduate Diploma (provided they are equivalent). Please enquire about the criteria for conversion and the equivalency of your Mandela Institute Certificate Course if you intend to convert to a Postgraduate Diploma or LLM at a later stage.

Applicants without a LLB will only be considered for admission if they have completed the Mandela Institute Certificate course Introduction to Law for Non-Lawyers in addition to the above. Subject to the discretion of the School, this requirement may be dispensed with if the applicant has completed a BCom or BA with law majors.

Documents to be submitted with applications

Mandela Institute Certificate Courses
Please contact the Mandela Institute for application information.

LLM by Coursework and Postgraduate Diplomas in Law

All applicants (South African and Foreign) must submit the follwoing:

2. Certified copies of all degree certificates

3. Certified copy of FULL academic transcript(s) (including marking key if marks are not expressed as percentages).

4. Letter of motivation. This letter should address:

Briefly why you want to do the course;
Whether you have any relevant other qualifications or work experience and/or academic legal research experience, and if so, the nature thereof;
If you have not attained the minimum average for admission (70% for the LLM by Coursework and Research Report, and 65% for the Postgraduate Diploma in Law) you must satisfactorily explain why not.

Foreign applicants must supply the following documents in addition to the above.

5. South African Qualifications Authority Letter (SAQA) if previous degree is from a foreign University. Click here for SAQA Contact Details.

6. If your other degrees are from a University which gives instruction in a language other than English, you need to comply with the following:

Proof of completion of two years of English language education at University level OR
A pass in the IELTS Test (International English Language Testing System) with a score of at least 7.0.

7. If your degree certificates and academic records are not in English, you must provide a certified English translation.

8. Study permit and medical insurance.

The International Office at Wits can assist with the study permit. The University is not permitted to register international students who do not have medical insurance in the form of a hospital plan.

All of these requirements must be satisfied before your application will be considered.

For application and registration enquiries contact the Postgraduate Faculty Officer at the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management.