LLM Healthcare Ethics and Law

Year of entry: 2024

Overview

Degree awarded
Master of Laws (LLM)
Duration
1 year
Entry requirements

We require a UK bachelor's degree with a First or Upper Second (2.1) classification or the overseas equivalent in Law. Candidates should demonstrate a strong background in Law modules relevant to the course, including Public Law and Contract Law and achieve scores of 2.1 or above in relevant modules.  

When assessing your academic record, we consider the grades you have achieved and the standing of the institution where you studied your qualification.

Applicants who do not satisfy the entry requirements for direct entry onto our LLM course may wish to be considered for entry onto the Postgraduate Diploma course.

Full entry requirements

How to apply

Apply online

If you would like to study this course 100% online, please check out the Healthcare Ethics and Law online learning page. 

Course options

Full-time Part-time Full-time distance learning Part-time distance learning
LLM Y Y N Y

Course overview

  • Develop your knowledge of medical law, and how medical law is shaped by ethical arguments and concerns.
  • Take a course that is both flexible and interdisciplinary, and comes with a solid legal component.
  • Apply bioethical and legal theory to real-world scenarios.
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Open days

The University organises open days every year in June, September, and October.

These are an opportunity to find out about the course, meet students and staff, and tour the campus and facilities.

If you receive an offer, we will invite you to a visit day where you learn about the School, teaching and learning, study opportunities and student life.

Fees

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

  • LLM (full-time)
    UK students (per annum): £15,500
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,500
  • LLM (part-time)
    UK students (per annum): £7,750
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,250
  • LLM (part-time distance learning)
    UK students (per annum): £13,000
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £25,000

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

There are several scholarships and bursaries that you may be eligible for.

Manchester Alumni Scholarship Scheme

The Manchester Alumni Scholarship Scheme offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to University of Manchester alumni who achieved a first-class bachelor's degree and are progressing to a postgraduate taught master's course.

Manchester Humanities International Excellence Scholarship

The University of Manchester is proud to offer scholarship awards to exceptional international students.

Manchester Master's Bursary

The University of Manchester is committed to widening participation in master's study and allocates 75 awards of £4,000 each year.

Postgraduate loans for master's students

If you're coming to Manchester this year to begin postgraduate study, you could qualify for a loan from the UK government.

For more information on our awards, see fees and funding or search the University's postgraduate funding database .

Contact details

School/Faculty
School of Social Sciences
Contact name
Postgraduate Taught Admissions Team
Telephone
+44 (0) 161 804 9198
Email
Website
https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/law/
School/Faculty

Courses in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview

We require a UK bachelor's degree with a First or Upper Second (2.1) classification or the overseas equivalent in Law. Candidates should demonstrate a strong background in Law modules relevant to the course, including Public Law and Contract Law and achieve scores of 2.1 or above in relevant modules.  

When assessing your academic record, we consider the grades you have achieved and the standing of the institution where you studied your qualification.

Applicants who do not satisfy the entry requirements for direct entry onto our LLM course may wish to be considered for entry onto the Postgraduate Diploma course.

English language

Applicants whose first language is not English should meet the following language requirements:

  • IELTS Academic test score of 7 overall, including 7 in writing with no further component score below 6.5
  • TOEFL IBT 100 with 25 in writing and no further score below 22 in each section. TOEFL code for Manchester is 0757
  • Pearson Test of English (PTE) score of 76 overall, with 76 in writing and no further score below 70

Pre-Sessional English Courses

We will consider applicants who do not meet these scores but you may be required to complete a pre-sessional English language course at the University of Manchester prior to the start of the course.

To be considered for a pre-sessional English language course for this programme we require the following minimum IELTS (Academic) scores:

6 Week Pre-Sessional Course : IELTS 6.5 overall with 6.5 in writing and no more than one sub-skill of 6.0.

10 Week Pre-sessional Course : IELTS 6.0 overall with 6.0 or above in each sub-skill 

If you have not yet completed your current academic study and are interested in studying a pre-sessional course, you must hold an IELTS for UKVI (Academic) test certificate to ensure that you are eligible for a separate visa for the English language course.

English language test validity

Some English Language test results are only valid for two years. Your English Language test report must be valid on the start date of the course.

Applicants from Majority English-speaking countries

If you are a national of a   majority English-speaking country   (or have studied for a full bachelor's degree or higher from one of these countries) you may be exempt from submitting further evidence of English language proficiency.

Other international entry requirements

We accept a range of qualifications from across the globe. To help international students, the university provides specific information for many individual countries. Please see our   country-specific information page   for guidance on the academic and English language qualifications which may be accepted from your country.

Application and selection

How to apply

Apply online

If you would like to study this course 100% online, please check out the Healthcare Ethics and Law online learning page. 

Advice to applicants

As there is a high demand for our courses we operate a staged admissions process with selection deadlines throughout the year. Due to the competition for places and high quality of applications that we receive, we give preference to students from high ranking institutions and with grades above our minimum entry requirements.

Please ensure you submit all supporting documentation with your application before the application deadline to avoid a delay in processing.

Applications for 2024 entry:

Stage 1:   Application received by  8th December 2023 ; Application update by  22nd February 2024

Stage 2:   Application received by  3rd March 2024 ; Application update by  25th April 2024

Stage 3:   Application received by  5th May 2024 ; Application update by  8th June 2024

Stage 4:  Application received by  1st July 2024 ; Application update by  25th July 2024

Whilst we aim to give you a decision on your application by the deadline date, in some instances due to the competition for places and the volume of applications received, it may be necessary to roll your application forward to the next deadline date.

Applications received after our final selection deadline will be considered at our discretion if places are still available.

Please note:  All places are subject to availability and if you apply at one of the later stages, some courses may already be reaching capacity or be closed to further applications. We, therefore, recommend that you apply early in the cycle to avoid disappointment.

Tuition fee deposits

If you are successful in receiving an offer, you will be required to pay a tuition fee deposit of £1,000 by the deadline stated in your offer letter to confirm your place. We ask for the deposit as competition for places is high and there is limited availability.  The deposit amount is then deducted from your tuition fees when you register on the course.

Re-applications

If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful you may apply again. Your application will be considered against the standard course entry criteria for that year of entry. In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved. We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen course.

Course details

Course description

The LLM in Healthcare Ethics and Law provides high-quality education in healthcare ethics and healthcare law. There is an emphasis on the application of bioethical and legal theory to real-world scenarios, catering to the practical needs of healthcare and legal professionals and those in related fields.

You will study a wide variety of ethical and legal subjects including:

  • autonomy;
  • consent;
  • refusal of treatment;
  • confidentiality;
  • the moral status of the foetus;
  • resource allocation;
  • genetic testing;
  • HIV testing;
  • medical malpractice;
  • clinical negligence;
  • organ and tissue transplantation;
  • fertility treatment;
  • genetic manipulation;
  • research ethics;
  • stem cell research;
  • euthanasia.

This course requires the study of both ethics and law, but with a bias towards law in the taught units. On the distance learning course, all options taken must be law-based. On the campus-based course, the majority of options should be law-based.

Aims

This course will allow you to develop an expert knowledge and understanding of bioethical and medico-legal theories, and the skills needed to apply them to real world scenarios in a diverse range of contexts.

You will also develop the ethical and medico-legal knowledge and research skills required for writing a master's level dissertation, and will be well prepared for further research if you so desire.

Teaching and learning

Teaching tends to defy the traditional boundaries associated with lectures and seminars.

Generally, each class in a course unit has a duration of two or three hours per week, and is split roughly between a formal, didactic period and a structured discussion period (most often based on the so-called, challenge-response model).

Nevertheless, each class is considered a seminar or lecture, and attendance of all classes of a course unit for which you are enrolled is compulsory. For course units of 15 credit value, there will generally be 15 hours of face-to-face teaching throughout the semester in which the unit is delivered, and twice that amount for 30 credit units.

Coursework and assessment

Assessment of all taught course units (to a total of 120 credits) is assessed by coursework in the form of 4,000-word essays per 15 credit course unit and up to 6,000 words for the two 30 credit core course units.

In addition, to complete the LLM, you must submit a 10,000-12,000 word dissertation by independent research (60 credits); no dissertation is required for the PGDip or PGCert. Part-time students undertake a supervised dissertation in the summer months of Year 2. Please note that if you are on the part-time route, you can extend your registration for an extra three months to submit your dissertations in December of Year 2, instead of September (you will be advised of the exact date in Year 2).

If you do not successfully complete the MA, you may be considered for the award of the Postgraduate Diploma. 

If you do not successfully complete the Postgraduate Diploma, you may be considered for the award of the Postgraduate Certificate. 

The awards of the MA or Postgraduate Diploma are classified according to pass, merit and distinction. The Postgraduate Certificate is awarded unclassified.

Course unit details

You will be required to complete 180 credits:

  • 120 credits comprised of taught course units (each of 15 or 30 credit value);
  • and an independent research element worth 60 credits. This will be a 12,000-15,000-word dissertation, which is undertaken over the summer months of the course. The dissertation should be predominantly law-based.

On the full-time course, the 120 taught credits can be split in one of two ways:

  1. 60 credits in each of the two semesters;
  2. or 75 credits in semester one and 45 credits in semester two.

If you are registered on the LLM Healthcare Ethics and Law course, you would need to select a majority of your optional course units from the law list (Mental Health Law and Policy; Medicine, Law and Society; Children, Medicine and the Law). Global Health Law and Bioethics can count as an ethics or law course.

Course unit list

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Dissertation by Independent Research CSEP60012 60 Mandatory
Philosophical Bioethics CSEP60201 30 Mandatory
Research methods and methodologies for bioethics and law CSEP60022 15 Optional
Mental Health Law and Policy CSEP60102 15 Optional
Ethics & Genetics and Genomics CSEP60192 15 Optional
Medico-Legal Problems CSEP60211 30 Optional
Global Health Law and Bioethics CSEP60222 15 Optional
Research Ethics CSEP60312 15 Optional
Medicine, Law and Society CSEP60962 15 Optional

Scholarships and bursaries

Manchester Alumni Scholarship Scheme:

The Manchester Alumni Scholarship Scheme offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to University of Manchester alumni who achieved a first-class bachelor's degree and are progressing to a postgraduate taught master's course.

Manchester Humanities International Excellence Scholarship:

The University of Manchester is proud to offer scholarship awards to exceptional international students commencing their postgraduate studies across subjects in its Faculty of Humanities from September 2022

Manchester Master's Bursary:

The University of Manchester is committed to widening participation in master's study and allocates 75 awards of £4,000 each year.

Postgraduate loans for master's students

If you're coming to Manchester this year to begin postgraduate study, you could qualify for a loan from the UK government.

For more information on our awards, see fees and funding or search the University's postgraduate funding database

What our students say

Meet some of our postgraduate students studying for a master's in International Law, Healthcare Ethics and Law and Financial Law in Student Spotlights .

Facilities

At The University of Manchester Law School, you are supported by the first-class resources you would expect of a top law school. 

In addition to the networked study spaces at the Williamson Building, you can access a specialist moot courtroom, enabling future legal minds to hone your debating skills in a realistic court setting. 

You also have access to The University of Manchester Library , which houses a substantial collection of law books and periodicals, as well as texts to support you.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk

Careers

Career opportunities

Successful graduates are able to progress within a wide variety of roles in the Medical, Legal and Ethical fields.  

Graduates from previous years have, for example, proceeded to specialise in Medico-Legal practice and academic careers, and the degrees have enhanced the careers of health care professionals. 

The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .