A university has promised students who are not in employment within nine months of graduating will be entitled to a refund of half their tuition fees.
The University of Law (ULaw) in Guildford has confirmed students not in employment within the legal or commerce sector can claim up to £7,000 of their fees back from the university in their London branches.
The institution has committed to this pledge, which will commence from September, to 'shake-up' the legal training sector and compete for students in the increasingly-commercialised higher education sector.
This is the first pledge of its kind, but follows a similar one made by ULaw's competitor BPP Law School, which moved to secure student places by offering a free place on another course if they were not in employment within six months of graduation.
ULaw reports 98% of its graduates find work within the first nine months of graduation, which suggests they will not be left too out of pocket.
ULaw's CEO, David Johnston, describes the reason for this move in a statement from the university, saying: "More than just a degree, today’s students want a clear return on their investment.
"For law graduates, this means one thing: securing a training contract or a full time job upon graduation. Our position as the preferred training provider to over 30 major law firms and our experience in training highly skilled law practitioners gives us the confidence and the assurance that our graduates will be in employment within nine months."
The announcement comes a week before A-level results are released, on Thursday, 13 August, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are predictions that many students will fill some 30,000 vacant places created as a result of the lifting of restrictions on student places at institutions for higher education across the UK, indicating the competitive nature of higher education since the introduction of the £9,000 tuition fees.