How to choose courses

Choosing courses

To decide what courses to enrol in, we recommend you first find out what courses are offered in the current year by referring to ANU College of Law Course Search. We would also recommend that you read the course description on ANU Programs and Courses from the link provided on Course Search. You also need to consider the timings of each course, especially if you are doing a full time load, so your courses are spread out across the study period.

For the Program Orders that are relevant to the year you have commenced your program, please follow the links below to go to ANU Programs and Courses.

Current Programs

Disestablished Programs

Should I enrol in semester or session courses?

It is your choice as to whether you enrol in semester or session courses, or both. Choose courses you are interested in. Some programs have suggested study patterns which we recommend following.

Semester-length courses	Scheduled in the Semesters and are usually 12 weeks in length with teaching activities taking place each week over the 12 weeks. Semester courses have different teaching activities - such as lectures, tutorials, seminars etc. The census dates are fixed.
Intensive courses	Scheduled in the sessions (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring) and are taught in an intensive or semi intensive mode. Major assignments are usually due around 6 weeks from the last teaching day. The census dates are individual for each course.
Online courses	Taught online in Semesters (over 12 weeks), or in a more intensive mode in Sessions. You do not attend classes on campus. International students have a limit on how many online courses they can complete as a student visa condition.
Blended courses	Taught with a mix of online and in-person classes.

What is a session vs a semester?

The ANU College of Law delivers courses throughout the year in semesters or sessions. There are two semesters and four sessions per year.

Semester 1 (set period of 12 weeks - February to June)
Semester 2 (set period of 12 weeks - July to November)
Summer (Dec/Jan/Feb)
Autumn (March, April, May)
Winter (June, July, August)
Spring (September, October, November)

There are two study periods per year:

1st half of year study period: Summer, Semester 1, Autumn
2nd half of year study period: Winter, Semester 2, Spring.

A full time load is considered to be 24 units in a study period, or 48 units per year. You can enrol in any combination of sessions/semesters as you like, provided you do not exceed the 24 unit limit per study period.

What courses are offered this year?

Not all courses listed on Programs and Courses are offered each year.

To see what is on offer in the current year, please refer to the ANU College of Law Course Search. Here you will find a list of courses running and their dates and times.

Specialisations

Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Flexible Double Degree – Law

You can elect to study any courses you wish that meet the program requirements, or you may choose to specialise in one of the following areas. A specialisation requires the completion of 24 units from a specific list of courses. Please follow the link to the list of courses for each specialisation.

Master of Laws

Exemptions and pre-requisite waivers

Exemptions

To apply for an exemption please contact College Student Administration Services.

Waiving prerequisites

Some courses require that you have completed a pre-requisite course before you enrol in it . If you would like to enrol in a course without having met the prerequisite you must apply for a waiver of that prerequisite. To apply, please contact the College Student Administration Services team who will refer the request to the Course Convenor to make a decision about whether or not to approve your enrolment in the course without having completed the prerequisite(s).

Course incompatibility

If you have previously completed a course that is regarded as substantially the same as a course in your program, that course may not be chosen. This will not normally apply for courses completed more than five years prior to the commencement of the program.

Part time/full time enrolment

Domestic students will be classified as enrolled part time if they undertake fewer than 3 courses (18 units) in a half year period. The ANU College of Law encourages part-time enrolment as a mechanism for balancing work, study and caring responsibilities. Students who are working more than 15 hours a week are advised to consider part-time enrolment. No special permission is required for this.

International student will usually have to maintain a full time (24u per half year) load to meet visa requirements.