Master of International Commercial and Business Law info session

Maxine Evers (00:10):

Let's commence our webinar. So welcome once again, to our Master of International Commercial & Business Law Webinar. My name is Maxine Evers and I'm the Associate Dean for Education in the Law Faculty at the University of Technology. And we are delighted that you are here for our very first webinar, to talk about this brand new course or courses that we are offering from next year.

            But in accordance with the usual custom here that we have have at the University of Technology, I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands our city campus now stands. I would like to pay my respects to their eldest, past, present and emerging, and I acknowledge them as the custodians of the land upon which our university sits.

            So thank you once again, for joining us. We are very excited to be offering this new course. And as I said, I'm the Associate Dean and this webinar will be jointly shared by my colleague Associate Professor Grace Li. And Grace is our Associate Dean for International. And the reason why we are both here sharing information and experience about the reasons why we developed this new Masters, is really because it does have a Masters that has a global focus. It's a program that's designed for international students and for local students and particularly for students that are looking at working with an international context, whether that be here in Australia, looking abroad with international clients, or whether it be relocating to work overseas.

            So tonight's session will go through the information about the course. We will also give you a really good framework of what the course is about or the courses, I should say. And then we'll also have the opportunity to answer your questions. So please use the Q&A box to put in your questions, and then at the end, Grace and I will answer those for you.

            Just also little bit of housekeeping to let you know that this session is being recorded. It's being recorded from the speaker's perspective, so that we can send copies of the recording to the attendees and the registrants for tonight. But there will be, obviously, no identification of you as participants in the session.

            So why this new course? So this new course or these new courses that really relate very much to our business and commercial strength in our faculty, our international established reputation, and also our very close connection with the Business School, has brought us to design this International Commercial and Business Law course. It's one that Grace and I have been speaking about for a long time. And we've been speaking about it because we have been told employers, by stakeholders, by potential students, that there is a need for a focus, as I said, both on the commercial aspect of industry and also the international lens that we teach this course through. It's also very much part of what we do with working with other faculties across the university here at UTS.

            So one of, I think the important attractions for you to consider about the new Master of International Commercial & Business Law, is that it is available to both law graduates and non-law graduates. So traditionally, a Master of Laws, for example, was only available to students who had undertaken a law degree. This one is more general, it's more open. Yes, it is about the law, but is also focused on the legal impact of other parts of commerce, of industry, of trade.

            So we have two standalone courses, as you can see on your slide now. The first one is the shorter, Master of International Commercial and Business Law, and further writing the presentation I'll give you some details as to what that looks like. Our second course is in conjunction with our very good friends in the Business School. That's our Master of International Commercial & Business Law. So it's the same as the course above, combined with a Master of Business Administration, an MBA. And that's not unusual for us to partner with the Business School. We already offer a Juris Doctor, Master of Business Administration. And so, we are very familiar with working in and it makes absolutely perfect sense that a course that is looking at commercial and business law should be done with our friends in the Business School.

            Thank you. So, as we always like to tell our prospective students. We acknowledge that you've probably done your homework about the University of Technology and the Law Faculty. And you may well be UTS grads, so that you know about our ratings and our rankings. But I think it is important that we do acknowledge and we do celebrate how well we have done as a young university. [Meko 00:05:46] is very much to our name, the University of Technology, that we are very much creative and curious, cutting edge, but we also are very much focused and grounded in the disciplines of our faculties. So in that sense, we're a traditional university. We equip students to take on roles in health, such as nursing, to take on roles in engineering, in teaching and in law and other disciplines and professions. But the way that we teach, our approach to teaching and learning, and the way that we support our students to ensure that you have a positive student experience, I think is distinctive about our programs here at UTS.

            So you can see some statistics up there about how well we have done. And then this is also shows you how will we do in relation to our graduates. So, 89.5% of our graduates found employment. I mean, that's something that is really exceptional in times, we are told, are difficult for graduates. And then you can see the annual salary that our graduates are able to achieve. Importantly, many of our graduates, many of our alumni are working overseas and our degrees here at the University of Technology and those in the Law Faculty are very much geared to recognition on the global front. So, thank you.

            Getting down to a little bit more detail about the courses. So let's start with the Master of International Commercial & Business Law. If you do know about our courses here at UTS, you will know that we are a very flexible university. We don't have part-time students, full-time students. We have a definition of what a part-time student, a full-time student is, but we are very flexible about how students decide to do their study. Whether they do what we would call, a full load of three or four subjects or one subject. We also offer subjects in summer, so we have the three sessions.

            So, this Masters can be undertaken what we would say, full-time. So with a full load of subjects in one year, or it can be taken, might be referred to on a part-time basis in two years, one and a half years, two and a half years. So the course has been designed to give some introductory and foundational knowledge and skills around commerce and also around the international stage. So the three core law subjects you see there on your slide, Contemporary Business Law, Companies and Securities Law and International Commercial Transactions, every student enrolled in a new Master's will undertake.

            But I think the other distinctive part about this new course, is that you do have the choice of doing more than 50% of your course taken from the electives. And that gives you options around knowledge, around skills, around local law, around international law. And I'll give you some examples of those electives a little bit further on. So that's the structure of our eight subject Masters.

            The next course that we're offering in conjunction with our colleagues in the Business School is the Masters combined with the MBA, as I said earlier. And you can see that this is obviously a longer course. There are more subjects to undertake, also though flexible duration. So two years full-time, four years part-time or anything in between that. So it really is about designing your study and your study load to suit your circumstances. So again, this combined degree takes up those core subjects, the ones in law I've just mentioned, and then the six core in business, to give you that introductory and foundational knowledge. There are the subjects that are done in the early part of the degree and then that also set you up well to some decisions about the electives that you are particularly interested in, and you can move on to doing your five electives in the law part, and then your two electives in the business part. Thank you.

            This is a couple of the subjects that we're offering as part of the electives program in the law course. So you can see that they are different. They cover different areas of the global world. They cover different areas of either commerce or what we might say to be a little bit more socio-legal situated. And importantly, you'll see there, there's the research paper. So we know that post-graduate students have specific interests and passions that they would like to delve into. So a research paper gives you the opportunity to take an area of interest and to be supervised by an academic and to produce a lengthy piece of scholarship that really is something that you can talk about when you're looking for employment, that really shows your developing expertise in a particular aspect of international, commercial and business law.

            There are several other electives, we haven't put them all up on that slide. But it gives you a taste, I hope, of what's on offer in these courses. Just going to show you a couple of my colleagues that teach into this program, to give you an idea of their interests, their teaching background, and their research background, but particularly the fact that they have also worked overseas. So they really do bring that international perspective to their teaching.

            So my colleague, Dr. Honni van Rijswijk has studied overseas. Her research is about the World Trade Organization, the European Union, about commercial transactions internationally as the name of this subject is. And really about bringing a very kind of different perspective into commercial transactions through a different lens, rather than just through a very traditional, possibly quite dry lens. So, Honni has taken that subject and has taught that subject for a considerable period of time.

            My other colleague that I'd like to showcase is Dr. Colin, a Professor, Associate Professor Colin Hawes. Colin has also spent quite a fair bit of time, both teaching and researching in Canada, as well as with us here at UTS and in China. Has a particular focus on research in China. He's also taught in China. So, Colin brings a very rich perspective to his teaching. He has a very good reputation for his teaching and research in China, very strong connections and he's able to bring that into the classroom in his subject, Business & Law in China. So there are two of my colleagues that come to us with a great deal of experience and expertise.

            What is distinctive about UTS and about UTS Law, and if you've been looking at courses, I'm sure as you've done some research, and as I've said earlier, if you are a UTS student, you'd be very familiar and comfortable with the UTS way. I think it is really important when you're looking at doing further study, we understand and we acknowledge that it's a commitment, both of your time and of your finances. That you choose somewhere that will really fit with your needs and your interest. I've already indicated the flexibility of our program and the choices that we offer to students. And if you know anything about the history of the University of Technology, we are very much practice based on what we say, practice orientated university.

            Connected with the professions, and what that means is that our assessments are very much based on what we call authentic assessment, preparing you for of the real world. So in being involved in a negotiation, drafting a law reform paper, being involved in a presentation, we don't have a hundred percent exams, not all subjects have exams and those subjects that do have exams are open books. So we are very much that real world, global focus and have very good engagement with stakeholders and alumni network, both here and overseas as well.

            Further on, my colleague Grace will speak to you about the support services that are available at UTS. And one of those will be how we can help you personalize your study program. So I'm now going to hand you over to my colleague, Grace, and she will take you through some further information about our course and the university. Thank you, grace.

Grace Li (14:47):

Thank you, Maxine. Hello everyone. My name is Grace Li. I'm the Associate Dean, Internationalization in the Law Faculty. Same as Maxine, I'm very pleased to be able to meet you today online and I shall thank Maxine. She has done all the hard work for this presentation. She has covered all the technical part and she has left the fun part for me. So I'm very excited to share with you more information about my Law Faculty and about this new exciting course.

            Julian, can you please move to the next slide? Yes, as you can see on this slide, this is our lovely UTS Law home. Such a beautiful piece of architect. We moved in this glass building, I think it's end 2019 or early 2020. Anyway, it is still brand new. There's nothing changed in the past two years. So the Law Faculty is on the top four levels of this building. And also in this building, we host, the UTS as a university host library and it's reading room. We have our Moot Court, we have our Trial Court. There's so much to see inside of this building. Of course, my favorite part of this building is the international food court down the ground level. Sadly, all the restaurant and food places are now closed, but I can't wait to see the campus is reactivated in the next week also.

            Julian will show us a few more photos of inside of this building. On the top right corner, that's our Moot Court. And on the bottom left corner, that's our Trial Courts. We have quite a number of subject that student will be using this high-tech Trial Courts and the Moot Courts. I think the one on the top right corner is a mooting session or it's a debating, I'm not sure, not quite sure about it, but looks very fancy. On the bottom, that's the library. That's a reading room. It beautiful place to be sitting in, have a book in your hand. To my knowledge, that's the most popular place where student will take photo and use it on their social platforms, Facebook and Instagram.

            All right, Julian. As a postgraduate student, you will have exclusive access to the Postgraduate Law Study Lounge, where you can probably meet with your friend before class, or you'll probably have a group discussion after the class. It's a nice place to sit down and have a chat. So that's the building. Oops. Not only that we have the beautiful facility, world-class facility, I think more important for me, the things that I feel proud the most is the services that we can provide to our student.

            So on this slides, I've just chose a few things that I can share with you. So first of all, we have our colleague, Professor Tracy Booth, as the Director of Students. Tracy is responsible for supporting student work, from the enrollment to graduation. She will deal with all the difficulties that a student might face and she will share the joys of success with students as well. The second one is UTS HELPS. UTS HELPS stand for, Higher Education Language and Presentation Support. That is always the most popular service for international student. Of course, it's getting more and more attention by our domestic student, where all the student can bring in, for example, an answer, a written answer to a particular question in their subjects, or a presentation, or an assignment for someone to look at and give them some advice on it. These sessions can be done as one on one individual session that can also be done as of the group. So you can talk to other student in a sort of more casual setup. So HELP is where student will go and seek for language help.

            We also have Career Services. UTS Career Service is a free service to help our student to develop the skill and knowledge, but most importantly, confidence that student will need in their job search. They run very comprehensive services to our student, from a small thing such as, look at your resume to, for example, you can borrow a suit for your interview, all these type of things that Career Services will be able to help you with. We also have a particular consultant looking after law student. So that'll be very handy and that person will run law career workshop from time to time as you go in your study with us.

            Additionally, we have Accessibility Services that provide assistance and support for student who might living with disability, or medical conditions, or mental health conditions, or if someone is a carer, or for a student who might be pregnant. So, whatever difficulties or whatever additional assistant that student might need, they would probably be able to seek help from Accessibility Services. The consultant will be able to, actually the counselor will be able to help student to develop a specific study plan for a subject or help student to talk to the subject coordinator to for the best way to help the student in teaching and learning.

            We also have a Buddy Program. This Buddy Program is run by Law Student Society. So for our law student, you would be able to have a buddy after you enroll in our courses. You can a senior, normally a senior student to be your study buddy and you can ask all the question that you don't want to ask our faculty members. For international student, it's particularly helpful, as all international student will be able to have one on one buddy with other a local student. Not only that our local student would be able to give a tip or so on where to find the best coffee on campus, there are also some other informations can be shared with international student, for example, the various clubs or activities and whatever things that you like to seek more information. Buddy it is probably the first person will come onto your mind. Personally, I've heard so much positive feedback from our student on the Buddy Program.

            So that's a few examples of different type of services that we can offer to our student. The other thing that I want to share with you is an important part of my role in the Law Faculty. As my title indicate, I'm the person looking after internationalization in the law faculty. One part of my job is to look after student coming into the Law Faculty, international student coming into the law faculty. The other important part of my job is to seek for and establish and create more opportunities for our existing student to go out of the country, to see more, to understand more, to know how law might be practiced similarly or differently in different jurisdiction. And that's something I am very proud of.

            In the past few years, Law Faculty has established a quite extended international internship network. So we offer a student various choice with up an internship placement. It is normally when you get to certain stage of your progression, we will encourage our student to consider taking internship. We have our local internship opportunity that is more popular for international student, because as you can imagine, they traveled into Australia from their home country. And we also have international placement that we offer to both domestic as well as international student.

            On this slides, I have listed a few international internship program. For example, we have KING & WOOD MALLESONS for those who's in law already, you would understand the status of this law firm. For those who don't know much about legal industry, KWM is probably one of the top tier law firms that operates both in Australia and worldwide. So our student will be able to intern with KWM in a few branches. From memory, I think we have KWM Beijing as one of our internship partner, and we also have Shanghai and we also have, it's a Kuala Lumpur, but I will double check with that.

            Also, we have Redfern Legal Center, that is the local internship opportunity. And in the Redfern Legal Center, we have the International Student Clinic, that's where we send our student to intern to. So normally the International Student Clinic will deal with the common problems, common matters that international student might experience, such as conflict with landlord or issues with the university. So that's a very popular placement for international student.

            We also have a few other opportunities. For example, we have the ACICIS in Indonesia, where student can intern with Indonesian's local legal aid center. And we also have BerkenIP in Argentina. As the name suggest it is an IP firm. So if you have a particular interest in intellectual property, that's probably where you want to have your internship experience.

            Oh yeah. In this Law Faculty, one of the things that we are very proud of ourself, is we create opportunities for our student to experience a wider setup of legal industry. How law can be practiced in different country, in different jurisdiction, in different legal system. I'm sure this experience will contribute very well to the future career path, career development of our student. All right, Julian. Next page.

            Entry requirement for this new course, as Maxine has explained, we offer to law and non-law student. It is a postgraduate level course, so applicant we'll need to complete a recognized bachelor degree. It can be a bachelor degree in Australia, it can be a bachelor degree overseas. UTS International Office would be able to give specific advice on your degree. So, if you are international student, and if your education system in your home country is different to the system in Australia, we might be able to assess your qualification, whatever it might be called. It could be a certificate, it could be a diploma, it could be a degree, and we would be able to assess it and give you a firm answer. But in general, as long as you have completed a recognized bachelor degree, we would welcome you to put in application for this particular course.

            If you degree is done in a non-English speaking country, we will also require you to provide your English proficiency evidence. We accept various different tests, as you can see on the slides. IELTS is probably the main one, we want our student to have 6.5 overall with the writing score of six. Thank you very much, Julian.

            Fees. I'm sure you are able to find out fees on our website, but here I just gave you the 2022 fee. As you know, fees might change every year. But if you are looking at commencement in 2022, that's what you are looking at. They're not cheap. I understand education is an investment. It is an important investment, as we all know. So I want you to be very clear what you are paying for and what you are buying. I know studying with UTS, studying in a new program called International Commercial & Business Law might be a fancy thing, but I really want you to know more about this course to be sure that that's what you are buying. And that's why Maxine and I spent this time to talk to you through various element in this particular course.

            But don't you worry, next slide. I'm going to show you the available scholarships for international student. In UTS, we have quite a long sort of range of scholarships that we offer. For this particular course, these are the top five scholarships that I want to share with you. They ranging from 25% tuition deduction to full tuition waiver as you can see on the slides. It's really depending on... Oh, actually various fact, for example, your academic achievements or your particular circumstances. For example, we offer special scholarship to different part of the world, different region, like the ones you can see at the bottom of the page. We offer LATAM International Postgraduate Coursework Scholarship, 25% tuition fee discount. And we offer international scholarships for student who are already onshore.

            So have a look at this list if you are considering applying for one of our scholarship program. Some of the programs are not merit based. For example, the UTS Grant for Master by Coursework Student, that is not merit based and that is not competitive. That means, as long as you satisfy the entry requirement, you will be considered for this particular scholarship. Of course, every year we have different cutoff. I mean this cutoff score. If you are above the cutoff score, you will be offered the scholarship automatically. But some other scholarship might be more competitive. For example, the Vice Chancellor's International Postgraduate Coursework Scholarship, that's a full tuition waiver and we only have very limited quota every year. So for that, you will be sitting on top of that year's applicant. But to be honest with you, if you are considering a law study, I know you must be good. All right, next slides.

            This slides provides you with a link, where you can find more information about other scholarships. Also, feel free just to reach out, send an email, on UTS website there is tap function, T-A-P function, where you can just have a live chat with your education counselors from the university. So if you have any questions at all about scholarship or anything else, that you can just feel free, just send through your question, it'll be answered very quickly.

            All right. The other thing that I want to share with you, especially for those who might not be familiar with the Australian legal system. A lot of international student, they ask me the question, "How can I practice law after I complete my degree?" Or "Whether or not I can practice law, if I study this particular degree with you." The answer can be tricky, can be complicated, really, but I'll just try to make as simple as I can. If you plan to study this particular Master, Master of International Commercial & Business Law degree, you will not be able to practice law after you complete this program. However, if practicing law is what you want, you can use this particular Master as a pathway into other Juris Doctor program. Juris Doctor program is the only postgraduate level program that'll allow the graduate to go in legal practice.

            Similarly at undergraduate, we have Bachelor of Law, but if we are talking about postgraduate, Juris Doctor is the only program that will open the door for legal practice in New South Wales. So International Commercial & Business Law by itself, you will not be able to practice. However, you can use that as a pathway into our JD program. Once you complete the JD program, you will need to take a short legal practice course. And then, you would be able to apply to be admitted into legal practice. Depending on which country you coming from, I know there are quite a number of countries for you to be able to practice law. You need to sit for a bar exam, regardless what degree you might have done.

            In Australia, it is slightly different. If you want to practice as a solicitor, you do not need to sit for the bar exam, you only need to complete the JD, Juris Doctor degree, plus the graduate certificate in Professional Legal Practice. Then you are able to apply for the admission into legal practice. This is quite different to quite a number of countries in the common law jurisdiction. That is just for your admission, for your information.

            Of course, as I explained, if you are trying to practice law and if you have further questions on how you can pursue your study and what is the best course for you, please feel free to reach out. We have, in the Law Faculty, we also have one on one student consultation session, and that is between prospective student with our international specialized student councilor. So if you ever need any further information for your particular case, you are more than welcome to set up a time to have a one on one session with us. All right, next slides.

            I want to show you, Piny. Piny is a very successful alumni of the Law Faculty. As I explained to you, although International Commercial & Business Law will not be able to provide you with a career in practice, but it set up a very good pathway for you to enter into Juris Doctor and then enter into legal practice. So Piny is an international student from Cambodia and she's done a Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Law, and which opened a global international career for her. So she's now a very happy alumni for us.

            Really, if you are international student, this degree can provide you with a one year course by itself, or two year course combined with your MBA study, or a three years course, if you really want to go in legal practice. So use that as a pathway into our JD. That's one of the reasons that Maxine and I really keen to offer this, because we understand being an internet national student, the duration of study can be quite challenging. If we are talking about visa requirement post study, working visa requirement. We want it to be as flexible as we can. That's why with this particular program international business and commercial law program, you can choose to study with us for one year, or two years, or three years. And you would be able to sort of convert into different courses as you go, if your situation changed, or if you see other opportunities arise in other discipline. So it is really, in my opinion, a flexible program that will suit the needs for both domestic, as well as international student. Next page.

           

Maxine Evers (39:41):

Thank you, Grace. And grace, we have some excellent questions in the Q&A. And I think it's only fair Grace if we share these questions. So the first question I'll take, which is excellent question that I'm sure several of the attendees are thinking. Question is, "How do you think we would deal with coursework without any background in law? Will it be a big learning curve and a bit of a struggle? Trying to gauge how difficult it would be to juggle this with work." Excellent question. And it really has two important components to it.

            Because we have a long history in the Law Faculty of teaching into the Business School. As I said, many of our courses are closely connected. We have a subject called Contemporary Business Law, so it was on one of the earliest slides. It's the one of the three core subjects in the Master of International Commercial & Business Law. That subject is all about the legal framework. So it is about our common law legal system. So if you are an international student that comes from a non-common law jurisdiction, it gives you the framework for studying and understanding our legal system here. It also covers the different aspects of law and legal relations in Australia. So contracts, taught law. So it does set you up really well and the assessments are designed for students who both have a business background or an interest in business, as well as an interest in law.

            The second question I think is a really important question about trying to gauge how difficult it would be to juggle this with work. And Grace gave, I think some really important advice about thinking very carefully about postgraduate study, because of what's right for you. And also because of the financial and time commitment. So as I said very early on in tonight's webinar, the flexibility that UTS offers its students, I think is really important, particularly for postgraduate students. So you can do one subject, a session. You can do no subjects, a session. You can take what we call a leave of absence. You can take up to four leaves of absence during your study time. You can study over summer, not our main sessions. Our main teaching sessions are autumn and spring that we're currently in, nearly at the end of our teaching. And then our summer starts in early December.

            So you can really tailor your course to suit your needs in terms of what's happening in your personal and work circumstances. And as Grace spoke about our colleague, Professor Tracy Booth, who is our Director of Students in the faculty, Tracy can work with students to really design what's best suits them. The next question, Grace, I would like you to answer. Is in relation to the kind of careers is this course aimed at, where could it lead to, please grace?

Grace Li (42:50):

Oh, on my screen. The next question is, "How does application process go like?" Do you want me to ask that first?

Maxine Evers (42:56):

You can answer that one as well Grace. You can answer two questions.

Grace Li (42:59):

All right. I'll go with the ones on my screen. I'll first of all talk about the application process. For international student, the application process is starts from an online application. Your application will go directly into UTS International Office. It is not the law faculty dealing with your application at the initial stage, but if there is any complications with your application, International Office will forward your application to us in the Law Faculty to make a decision in your case.

            As I explained, there are two most important things for your application. The first one is your bachelor degree. You will need to show us your bachelor degree. If it's called a degree or in your home country it might be called a different name. And UTS International Office would be able to advise on whether or not it is a recognized for bachelor degree, so they can proceed with the next consideration, which is your English proficiency evidence. If you can provide us with your English test score, that'll be everything we need to assess your application. So that's for international student. For domestic student, I'm quite sure it'll be just like the standard postgraduate domestic admission process. Am I right Maxine?

Maxine Evers (44:27):

Yes, that's right Grace. And information's on the website about how you apply for postgraduate courses.

Grace Li (44:34):

Thank you.

Maxine Evers (44:34):

Well done.

Grace Li (44:36):

The next one on my screen is... Oh, there is one about border... Yes. Just wondering how international placement will work given the border situation. So, it was a challenge for university and for international student up to probably about two weeks ago. So, we've got the pleasing news from the government that the border will be open in the next months. And more importantly, we have university or get together, have successfully negotiate what we called, safe return corridor with the Australian government.

            With a safe return corridor, that'll allow Australian universities to bring back student when we see the needs. So depending on, again, your home kind, the program you study, you would be able to come back to Australia to your university, even before the border is open. Again, it depend on your location, geographical location, and depending on the course that you enrolled. So in general, I would say that the border situation is no longer as challenging as it was. We are very hopeful that by the end of this year or be it earlier, or at least before autumn next year, border is no longer an issue for international student to enter into Australia.

Maxine Evers (46:15):

Thank you, Grace. And if I could add to that, just two aspects. One is the link for local students to apply for postgraduate courses, including our new programs, is available for you in the chat box. And the second one, which is a, I think a really good question is around placements or internships when we've been in lockdown and not being able to travel. As Grace has said, we'll be opening our borders very soon.

            We were really pleased with the program that we could offer to our students for our international internships. Many organizations continue to take our student students, not in person, not face to face, but in a virtual sense. So, our students still continue to do the work that they were doing, or they would've been doing had they been able to travel overseas, they just weren't in situ in that country. So if they were working on businesses, they're working on intellectual property, if they were working on law reform, they continued to do that. So, we were very pleased as I said, that we were able to cater for our students who wanted to continue to have that international experience through an international placement, that the organizations could pivot as we did to provide that virtual experience. Grace, would you like to answer the next question-

Grace Li (46:15):

Thank you.

Maxine Evers (47:37):

... about careers.

Grace Li (47:38):

Career. As explained by Maxine at the beginning, one of the reasons why Maxine and I were keen to develop this program is because of the feedback we've received from the industry. As you know, nowadays law and business become two industries, they almost mingle together. A significant part of the revenue into the law industry, coming from business transactions, rather than for example, a family matter, rather than the criminal matter, but from business transactions.

            Because of that, the need for someone who can understand business transaction as well as law is increasingly important. We have that understanding from our alumni. We have that understanding from talking to law firms. That's one of the most important reason that we see the needs of the market and then we develop this course.

            If you want to ask me where this course can lead you into your career, I will have to say, it opens the door for you in a lot wider way than our standard PG course. Speaking on the standard PG, Master of Law is the most known one, that traditionally that is the one being recognized throughout the world. But that will give you a different set of skill, that will provide you with an opportunity for you to drill into a particular area of law that you have been working on. However, this course, International Commercial & Business Law, not only that will gave you a overall introduction of law in relation to business, that will also gave you the business understanding from a less technical perspective for student, for example, student who have never had a law degree would be welcome to apply into this course. That's because we understand, not everybody want to be a lawyer, not everybody want to practice law. But it is always a good thing to have that cross-disciplinary understanding and cross-disciplinary knowledge.

            If you opened up the ASX Top 100 company list, if you check on the members of their board, directors and you will see how many of them had law degree, and you will understand why law degree, especially in business law area is a degree can lead you well into the business world. No need to mention all these roles in compliance, or these roles like company securities. These are the careers you will be looking at. And with law training, it is not the training for you to remember the law, it is a training for you to develop various soft skills, the skill of communication, the skill of being able to present your idea in the logical way. Those are the things that'll help you to go successful in whatever industry you are in. I'm sure Maxine have more to add on.

Maxine Evers (51:23):

Only one aspect, which I think is also worth noting. But when you have a course that's designed through a global lens, it means that you have the opportunity to work internationally or to work locally, and to be working with international clients. Many professions, industries, areas of transport, communications, government corporations are working at the international level, through different types of agreements and arrangements. So it means that you are looking, practicing, which whether that be in really any profession, including particularly business and law from a different perspective than having a course that is based at the local level. And Grace, I might ask you to answer the last question, which I think was one of the slides about English proficiency tests, please.

Grace Li (52:19):

Will do. Yeah. Commonwealth countries, if you are from one of the Commonwealth countries, we'll be looking at your degree. If you've done your bachelor degree or whatever previous degree in English, then there is no need for you to provide your English score. If you've done your previous degree by using a different language, then you will need to provide your English score. So, put it in a simple way, we are not looking at which country you are coming to us from, but we are looking at your actual degree, whether or not it was done in English.

Maxine Evers (52:59):

Thank you very much, Grace. And that is absolutely perfect timing. They were excellent questions. Thank you very much for those. And then finally, I'd just like to thank you for attending. As you can see in the chat box, there's a link for you to apply. There's also other ways that you can contact the university if you have any questions. Here they are up on the final slide. So Grace and I thank you. And we wish you all the best with your decision making. Good evening.