You first need to meet the ANU Global Programs eligibility requirements. You will then need to meet degree-specific requirements.

You must satisfy the following criteria:

1. You have enough elective courses to go on exchange (eg. 24 units of LAWS electives if you wish to study a full semester of law whilst on exchange). All compulsory law courses must be completed at ANU.
2. You have a minimum of 36 units of LAWS courses completed before the application closing date (see key dates), including a minimum of 30 units of 1000 level LAWS compulsory courses (LAWS1201, LAWS1202, LAWS1203, LAWS1204, LAWS1205, LAWS1206).

Because of the timing of course results and exchange applications, if you started your Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in First Semester and you have studied the typical full-time study plan, the earliest that you will be able to go on a law exchange will be the second semester of your third year.

Please be aware that students cannot usually undertake more than 24 units of law courses outside the ANU College of Law in total throughout their degree. This includes exchange, study abroad and cross-institutional study. See Honours in Law and the discount rule.

You first need to meet the ANU Global Programs eligibility requirements. You will then need to meet degree-specific requirements.

You must satisfy the following criteria:

1. Have enough LAWS elective courses to go on exchange (eg. 24 units of LAWS electives if you wish to study a full semester of law whilst on exchange).
2. Have minimum of 30 units of 6100 level LAWS compulsory courses completed before going on exchange (LAWS6101, LAWS6102, LAWS6103, LAWS6104, LAWS6105, LAWS6106). You can commence your application for exchange before meeting this requirement.

Assuming full-time study, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) students usually go on exchange in the second half of third year or during fourth year, and Juris Doctor Students usually go on exchange in their second or third years. This is an ideal time as you will have settled into your studies, completed some compulsory courses and be clearer about your preferences, strengths and goals. Exact timing will depend on your degree plan, specifically, the completion of compulsory courses.

Going on Exchange in your last semester

If you are planning to complete the final courses for your degree while on exchange, you will not be able to graduate at the end of your exchange semester. It can take more than six months for results from courses completed on exchange to be received by ANU. This may also preclude you from taking up graduate positions and delay your admission to practice. It will also prevent you from receiving OS-HELP. To be eligible for OS-HELP, students are required have a minimum of 6 units remaining in their program upon return from exchange. In most cases, we highly discourage students to go on exchange in their last semester.

Plan your program before exchange

It is important to plan out your program in detail prior to going on exchange, since you will not be studying any compulsory courses while overseas. You should consider in which semesters compulsory courses are available, and be particularly aware that LAWS2204/LAWS6204 Property is available only in Semester 1 and is a prerequisite for LAWS2205/LAWS6205 Equity and Trusts, which is available only in Semester 2. If are going on exchange in Semester 1 and have not yet completed LAWS2204/LAWS6204 Property, you should plan to be studying for at least three more semesters after you return from exchange.

Deferred and Supplementary Examinations

Deferred and Supplementary Examinations are held in Week 1 of the semester following the end of the course. If you are planning to go on exchange, or to take a holiday leading into your exchange semester, you must be aware of the Deferred and Supplementary Examinations dates. If you apply for and are granted a Deferred Examination or you are offered a Supplementary Examination, you must be on campus to sit the examination. This may mean making the choice between commencing your travel as planned or sitting the examination to pass your course. Alternative arrangements outside of the scheduled period for Deferred and Supplementary Examinations due to your exchange semester or holiday are not possible.

Once you are approved by ANU Global Programs to go on exchange and have been allocated a host university, you must have any law courses you are intending to study whilst on exchange approved by the ANU College of Law before departure. This is to ensure you will receive law credit on your return. To request approval for your courses please complete the Studying Elsewhere Approval form.

Failure to obtain approval for courses studied on exchange prior to your departure may result in credit not being granted on return.

Credit will be granted for law elective courses only, unless you are in a LLB (Hons) single degree and want to count a course as a non-law elective. Compulsory law courses must be completed at ANU and cannot be completed on exchange.

Courses completed on exchange for law elective credit must adhere to the following conditions:

• You cannot undertake the equivalent of an ANU compulsory law course, or a course with significant overlap with an ANU compulsory law course.
• You cannot have already completed substantially the same course at ANU. For example: ‘legal theory’ in the UK system is a subject that is substantially the same as the course of that name taught by ANU.
• The course must be offered at a law school within the university (not, for example, a business law course offered by another College/Faculty).
• The law course must be offered as part of a degree that normally leads to eligibility for admission to practice law in that jurisdiction.
• The course cannot be a fundamental/introductory public international law course.
• The course cannot be a legal studies- or criminology-type course.

Please note: you do not need to choose courses that match particular ANU Law elective courses. A major benefit of studying abroad is being able to study a different legal system or law in a different context, and to tap into courses that you would not be able to study at ANU. You certainly do not need to find a partner university that offers a set of courses that ‘match’ the topic of electives offered by the ANU College of Law.

You can study law courses on exchange offered in a language other than English provided that you meet the language requirements of the partner university.

If you are in a single LLB (Hons) program or Flexible Double Degree program, you may apply to go on exchange solely to study non-law courses as university-wide electives or towards your non-law degree.

If you are in a single LLB (Hons) program, you will still need to seek credit approval from the ANU College of Law, however; if you are in a Flexible Double Degree program and do not intend to study law courses on exchange, you do not need to seek ANU College of Law approval for exchange but will need to seek approval from your other ANU College.

It is your responsibility to research the courses offered at the partner university to ensure they address issues such as any pre-requisites, language restrictions, restrictions on exchange students, and so on. It is also your responsibility to receive prior approval for a course to reassure yourself that it will receive credit upon your return.

Failure to obtain approval for courses studied on exchange prior to your departure may result in credit not being granted on return.

Once courses are approved, you will be sent a Application for Enrolment Change pre-filled with the approved ANU unit value to sign in order to finalise your place-holder enrolment at ANU for the period of your exchange.

ANU enjoys exchange partnership relationships with over 180 high-quality universities around the world. As a law student you can apply to go to any of these universities provided they meet the requirements listed below.

Students must research potential exchange partners themselves, as each university partner may have different conditions for law exchanges. It is your exchange and your College advisor will not be able to offer information about specific courses or options at specific universities.

When researching exchange partner universities for law, please consider the following:

• The partner must offer law courses in English (unless you meet the language requirements of the partner university to study in another language, in which case you are free to study approved law courses in another language).
• The partner must offer law courses that are part of a degree which normally leads to eligibility for admission to practice law in that jurisdiction. You will not receive approval for taking ‘legal studies’ courses in a partner university where those courses are not part of a law degree in that university, with a law course code.
• Some exchange partners universities are on a ‘restricted list’ in that normally students are only eligible to apply for them if they have a GPA over 6.0. Check with Global Programs as this list does change from time to time.
• Some exchange partners only accept law students who have completed a certain portion of their studies (e.g. more than 18 months of equivalent full-time law study).

For help and advice with general eligibility requirements and timelines, advice on choosing your exchange destination and partner institution, funding your experience, and tips for submitting your exchange application, get in touch with ANU Global Programs. Information sessions are scheduled throughout the year and recordings of previous sessions are available year-round.

For help and advice with planning your degree to include an exchange semester and for choosing courses to study on exchange for ANU credit, get in touch with the ANU College of Law Student Experience team via email or make an appointment with an advisor in-person, by phone or via Zoom.

Upon completion of your courses, the host institution will send the Global Programs team your official transcript. Global Programs will then send the transcript back to us and we will process the credit as per approval received in this email. There is no need to apply for credit upon completion of your courses. Our office will also send students an email once the credit has been transferred to their ANU law degree.

Please note that some Universities can take up to 6 months after the end of the semester/term to finalise and send the official transcript. As per clause 8b of the ANU Procedure Credit and exemptions, our office will not be able to process the credit until we receive the official transcript from the host university. We are not able to process credit based on an unofficial transcript, interim transcript or a notification of results sent to students.