Rhodes University Law Postgraduate Studies
About Postgraduate Studies
The Faculty of Law offers LLM- and PhD-studies by thesis only. Normally, only candidates who have obtained an average of 65% or above in the final year of their LLB study will be admitted to the LLM. Admission to the PhD in law is at the discretion of the Dean of the Faculty of Law on good cause shown.
Prior to applying for admission to the university as a postgraduate student in law, students are advised to submit the following documents to the Dean of the Faculty of Law (email to law@ru.ac.za) for preliminary consideration:
- An updated CV,
- Copies of degree certificates,
- Full academic transcripts reflecting the results obtained in all university courses;
- A short research proposal (2-4 pages) outlining the intended research topic. Importantly, the candidate is to indicate WHAT he/she intends to research (the research question), WHY he/she regards the question as important (the research motivation) and HOW he/she will go about to answer the research question (the research methodology). For more information about postgraduate studies at Rhodes University click here.
These documents, and in particular the proposal, will enable the Faculty to assess the viability of the intended research and to determine whether the adequate supervision capacity is available in the Faculty.
On the basis of this preliminary assessment, the candidate will then be invited to apply for admission to the university as a postgraduate student and register for his/her postgraduate studies. The initial registration is conditional upon the finalisation and acceptance of a formal research proposal by the Higher Degrees Committee of the Faculty. The student will be guided in the preparation of this proposal by the supervisor appointed for him/her. Details about the proposal and other important information about postgraduate legal studies including, referencing and the policy on plagiarism, are available upon request.
For a list of thesis-based research areas in which we offer high-quality supervision please click on the link below: