The University of Law has been ordered to stop calling itself the UK's "leading" law school.
In an advert which appeared in the university clearing section of a national newspaper in August, ULaw included the claim, “Secure your place at the UK’s leading law school”. An outraged reader, identified by the Advertising Standard Authority as "a retired university law professor", complained that the boast was "misleading" and "could not be substantiated".
In response, ULaw argued that it was fair to call itself "leading" on the basis that it has more GDL, LPC and BPTC students than anyone else, with 9,486 confirmed places compared to the next biggest, BPP, with 5,143. It quoted SRA figures indicating that more of its LPC students commenced a training contract than any other provider. It also pointed to the fact that 22% of its BPTC graduates obtained 'Outstanding' scores in the Bar exams in 2016, compared to just 9% in 2015. And it quoted a student survey commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England which, ULaw said, ranked it joint first for student satisfaction. And surely it raised Carbolic Smoke Ball.
But in its judgment this week ASA upheld the complaint (and another relating to a faux news story), ruling that readers were unlikely to define "leading" in quite the same terms as ULaw.
ASA said consumers would expect ULaw to have the highest percentage of graduates obtaining training contracts, not the highest number. And that they would expect ULaw to have a higher proportion of BPTC students with 'Outstanding' scores than other providers, not a higher proportion than itself the year before. And when ASA studied the student satisfaction survey, they found that ULaw had been rather selective with its data, and that once the results were limited to the subject of law it was actually ranked sixth.
ASA ordered ULaw not to air the ads again and not to make claims that it was the “leading” UK law school without "adequate substantiation". A spokesman for ULaw, which was bought by Global University Systems in 2015 a year after old boss Nigel Savage stepped down, said, "While we are disappointed by the ruling, we have taken on board the comments from the ASA and are working closely with them currently to agree the best way forward”.
Tip Off ROF
In an advert which appeared in the university clearing section of a national newspaper in August, ULaw included the claim, “Secure your place at the UK’s leading law school”. An outraged reader, identified by the Advertising Standard Authority as "a retired university law professor", complained that the boast was "misleading" and "could not be substantiated".
In response, ULaw argued that it was fair to call itself "leading" on the basis that it has more GDL, LPC and BPTC students than anyone else, with 9,486 confirmed places compared to the next biggest, BPP, with 5,143. It quoted SRA figures indicating that more of its LPC students commenced a training contract than any other provider. It also pointed to the fact that 22% of its BPTC graduates obtained 'Outstanding' scores in the Bar exams in 2016, compared to just 9% in 2015. And it quoted a student survey commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England which, ULaw said, ranked it joint first for student satisfaction. And surely it raised Carbolic Smoke Ball.
But in its judgment this week ASA upheld the complaint (and another relating to a faux news story), ruling that readers were unlikely to define "leading" in quite the same terms as ULaw.
 |
It's thrown the next campaign into doubt |
ASA said consumers would expect ULaw to have the highest percentage of graduates obtaining training contracts, not the highest number. And that they would expect ULaw to have a higher proportion of BPTC students with 'Outstanding' scores than other providers, not a higher proportion than itself the year before. And when ASA studied the student satisfaction survey, they found that ULaw had been rather selective with its data, and that once the results were limited to the subject of law it was actually ranked sixth.
ASA ordered ULaw not to air the ads again and not to make claims that it was the “leading” UK law school without "adequate substantiation". A spokesman for ULaw, which was bought by Global University Systems in 2015 a year after old boss Nigel Savage stepped down, said, "While we are disappointed by the ruling, we have taken on board the comments from the ASA and are working closely with them currently to agree the best way forward”.
Comments
73
76
86
92