By NOEL MURPHY
Deakin University has rejected reports linking its enrolment practices with a glut of laywers on Australia’s labour market.
Finance media reports said the university’s undergraduate law student enrolments had grown at almost three times the rate of other courses.
But Professor Mirko Bagaric denied that students with law degrees were in over-supply.
“The feedback from our students regarding their capacity to secure employment is excellent,” Deakin’s head of law said,
“There’s no evidence of an oversupply of law students, given the transferability of the skills and knowledge acquired as a result of a law degree to a range of other industries.
“It is no coincidence, for example, that there are more former lawyers in federal parliament than from any other profession.”
The Australian Financial Review reported that Australian universities had aggressively recruited law students despite a shortage of jobs for them, citing Deakin’s growth in undergraduate enrolments.
Prof Bagaric said Deakin law graduates scored “higher than all other law school graduates” across a criteria of knowledge, including ethics, professionalism and research skills.
The law school focussed on preparing students to become commercial lawyers with high level problem-solving skills, he said.
“These graduates contribute to the community and economy at levels well-above the cost of the government contribution for the law degree. From a value perspective, economists would probably say this is excellent value as they are highly educated and able when they graduate.”
