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Northumbria University was first established in 1969. Nearly 40 years later and it has 30,000 students enrolled on almost 500 courses, across 10 schools. Northumbria boasts the largest law department in the North East, with a new £70m purpose built department.

The city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is well known as having one of the best social and night lives in the UK and there is much to offer a prospective student.

The new law building was opened in 2007. This is where all teaching takes place for law courses. The building has 3 large lecture theatres, around 30 seminar rooms and even a fully realised courtroom. This courtroom is fitted with recording equipment, allowing students to practice and review the work they have done, creating a much more productive experience.

On all four floors of the building there are IT and printing facilities, so students can always get on to a computer. The university has a library in the main campus, a 2 minutes walk away from the law building, which has a large selection of law publications such as textbooks, law reports and journals.

As well as the main library, the new building has its own law library containing an equally large collection. As such, books are never short of supply. Northumbria law school also has the Student Law Office, one of the largest of its kind, where students can take part and help real members of the public, advising and representing them with their legal problems.

There are over 90 academic staff in the school, allowing the flexibility to offer a wide variety of electives to its students. The GDL is available via three modes of study; full-time, distance learning and 'eLearning'. The first and second are quite obvious, however the third provides students the additional flexibility of only having to attend the school during the induction weeks or the first and second year.

As with all other providers, the Northumbria GDL focuses on the seven core subjects; Contract, Criminal, EU, Property, Constitutional, Tort and Equity & Trusts. The programme is taught via lectures and seminars along with a lot of interactive work. Along with the above subjects, all students are required to complete an independent research project on an area of law of their choice.

When you take a break from working, the students union is situated at the main city campus which has a variety of places to eat, drink and meet with friends. Asides from the university, there is much to see and do in Newcastle. The university campus is just minutes walk from the main shopping area and access to the shopping mall. The newest addition to Newcastle’s social life is the Gate, which has a 9 screen multi-plex cinema, bars, restaurants and a casino.

Around Newcastle there are many cultural hot spots, such as the Millennium Bridge, the Sage, the Theatre Royal, the Baltic and many more. At night, the city comes alive with hundreds of bars and nightclubs. The most popular is Digital, which has been voted one if the best clubs in Europe (and also one of the best sound systems in Europe!). If you like to see gigs there are tons of venues for bands of all sizes.

There is a Carling Academy, which has bands on most nights and club nights at the weekend, as well as the Metro Radio Arena for bigger bands, which has a 10,000 capacity and from time to time bands play in Northumbria’s students union in one of two venues.

If you wanted to take part in some law based activities, there are plenty to choose from. There is a yearly mooting championship, in which students are teamed up and put against others to argue through legal problems in front of a judge.

There is also the Mock Trial Society which act out cases in the courtroom, giving students a chance to gain valuable experience and meet new people. As well as all of this, there are many different societies for sports, music, or just fun, which any students can join. The Grey Society (the law society) has a monthly night out in which students from all years get together and have a good time.

The course fees for the Northumbria GDL are £5100 for full time and £ 2550 for part time and £1950 per year for the distance learning and elearning programmes. All amounts are inclusive of texts and relevant course materials.

Depending on which halls you choose the cost will range from 60 to 100 pound a week. Factors to consider are whether you want to be on campus, have an en-suite bathroom, catering and internet included. The cost of a drink in the students union is around £2.50, depending on your drink of choice, but drinks are much cheaper on club nights. Get y’skates on and Wiggle are the most popular where a pint costs £1.30 and a double spirit is only £2.50

As a student at Northumbria there is access to student services and careers advisors. These services can help you out in many ways, whether it be creating a CV or applying for a post-grad course. The law school also helps guide students through guest lecturers such as practicing lawyers, Members of Parliament and other groups looking to employ law graduates.

As well as the guest lecturers there are also open days when members from both local and national firms come into the university to talk to students about the role they play, answer any queries and give valuable advice on a career in law. As well as support for entering a law career there are many events throughout each academic year, which help students get local jobs to support them whilst at university.

One example of this is the student job shop, which is a programme run by both Northumbria and Newcastle University which allows potential employers to come and speak to students in the university.