Frequently Asked Questions

No.  Online Learning at Allard is not a degree-granting program and completing online courses does not meet the requirements of any of Allard's degree-granting programs.  However, if you are interested and later admitted to the LLM Common Law (LLM CL) Program, you may transfer up to 12 credits to count towards the LLM CL degree.  Please contact the Professional Programs directly for further clarification: professionalprograms@allard.ubc.ca. 

No.  Allard Law's CSO is only available for students who are registered in the degree-granting programs offered at the Allard School of Law.

Yes, we require applicants have both a prior first law degree (LL.B. or J.D. or its equivalent) and an NCA Assessment.  The NCA Assessment Report and associated transcripts form part of the required admissions documents to take our courses.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Online Learning at Allard recognizes that it may not be possible to obtain an NCA Assessment. We are allowing applicants to apply without an NCA Assessment, however please note that taking our courses without an NCA Assessment Report means you may be taking classes you don’t need or won’t get credit for.  As each individual NCA Assessment differs, it is your responsibility to confirm with the NCA whether they will accept the classes as meeting your NCA requirements. Please also be mindful of the course drop dates and the respective tuition refund dates.

Yes, you’ll need to request an email from the NCA saying that your file is currently in the queue to be assessed.  Also, you should request the NCA send your transcripts they have on file to us. You will need to provide us with the assessment report once it has been issued. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Online Learning at Allard recognizes that it may not be possible to obtain an NCA Assessment. We are allowing applicants to apply without an NCA Assessment, however please note that taking our courses without an NCA Assessment Report means you may be taking classes you don’t need or won’t get credit for.  As each individual NCA Assessment differs, it is your responsibility to confirm with the NCA whether they will accept the classes as meeting your NCA requirements. Please also be mindful of the course drop dates and the respective tuition refund dates.

We currently offer these courses.  Unfortunately, we do not offer all the NCA subjects and we are the lone method of taking single NCA subject courses at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.  If you are interested in a course we do not currently offer, please email us.  We will note your interest in the subject as we periodically review class offerings.

We endeavor to maintain an up-to-date schedule of course offerings on our courses webpage.  Once we have confirmed our courses, we update that page.

In many cases, yes.  Our Online Learning courses have been designed in consultation with the NCA to help students demonstrate competency in these subject areas.  Our courses are thus pre-approved to meet the required material.  It is up to the individual student to confirm with the NCA that they will accept our courses for their NCA Assessment. 

Most likely yes.  The NCA is very prompt in sending document to us, and will let you know when they have sent the documents to us.  However, if you did not specify electronic mail, they likely sent hard copies of the documents and will take longer to reach us.  We will need to review these documents before we forward them onto Enrolment Services. Please allow one week for us to complete a review of your documents.  You will receive an email from us when we have forwarded your documents to the Non-Degree Studies.  Due to the number of applicants, we are unable to individually confirm when we receive your NCA-supplied documents.

There may be a few reasons why you haven’t heard from either us or our colleagues at Enrolment Services:

1) Document review at Online Learning at Allard

Online Learning at Allard reviews all application materials to ensure applicants will be successful in the program.  As some of the application periods are busier than others, we may be working on other items and have not been able to review your documents just yet.  As these applications are for graduate level courses, we do look for your academic ability based on UBC’s graduate admission standards. Often times there are no issues with applications.  However, there are times when we will place restrictions on the number of courses students can take at once. 

2) Unpaid Application Fees

If you have not paid your application fee, we will not begin reviewing your documents internally, nor will we send them to enrolment services.  You can check this by logging into your Student Service Centre (SSC) to view and pay fees under the "Finances" heading.

Unfortunately no.  We do not waive our English language requirements.  Please be sure to review and meet our English language requirements. 

Unfortunately no.  The University of British Columbia and NCA have different English Language Requirements.  Meeting the NCA's requirement does not meet UBC’s requirements. 

Yes.  We base the need to provide an English language proficiency result on the language of instruction in the entire institution, and not just the degree program you completed.  Please be sure to review our English language requirements. 

Because of the requirements for our Online Learning courses, we have to close off online registration.  You will find the registration process here. Please note, course space is limited and submitting a registration form does not guarantee you a spot in the course. 

There are two possible reasons why you can’t see it.  First, it is likely the course is not available at this time.  Most courses are accessible the week before classes officially start.  Otherwise, they are closed to students and will not show up on your main canvas page.  Second, we have just processed your registration form and the UBC systems for registration and online course support require an overnight refresh to talk to each other for student access.  Please check back in a day or two.  If you can’t access the course, please verify your registration with us, and then contact UBC IT.

Yes, but you need to be aware of the dates and implications for tuition refund purposes.  Please see the UBC course change dates, as well as the tuition refund dates.  The amount of tuition that can be refunded is based on the date of the withdrawal.  Please note your application fee and registration deposit are non-refundable.

All fees can be paid through the "Finances" tab of your Student Service Centre (SSC).  Because applications to Access Studies are manually processed, it can take up to 5 working days to process your application to have your fees and other document requirements set.  It is your responsibility to check your financial information on SSC. 

(If you do not have a CWL Username, follow the instructions for a “standard user (student/alumni)” at the following link to create one: https://it.ubc.ca/services/accounts-passwords/campus-wide-login-cwl/how-create-account)

Courses taken towards National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) requirements are not eligible for Canadian provincial student loan funding.  Canadian students may be eligible for a loan or a line of credit through their bank, and should contact their banking institution directly about these options.

Courses taken towards National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) requirements are not eligible for Canadian provincial student loan funding.  Canadian students may be eligible for a loan or a line of credit through their bank, and should contact their banking institution directly about these options.

Students can download confirmation of registration under the Grades and Records section on the Student Service Centre, along with their course registration. 

All of our courses are asynchronous directed self-study graduate-level courses.  They follow a regular in-person UBC course schedule and syllabus regarding the start date and final exams.  Classes will have material for each week for you to read and study up on, but there is not a required time commitment for being online and in the class.  Different instructors will use different methods of evaluating the class.  Some will have assignments throughout the course, others will have a midterm exam.  All of our courses have a final exam that will be conducted during the regular UBC scheduled Final Exam period. 

Unfortunately no.  All Online Learning at Allard exams are conducted via the Proctorio online exam invigilation service, unless there is an accommodation on file with the Centre for Accessibility allowing you to hand write the final exam.  Please find more information on our guidelines webpage.

The Peter A. Allard School of Law has a set release date for all marks in its courses.  We endeavor to have your marks entered in the system for them to be released on that date. However, because of the nature of Online Learning courses, we must wait for off-campus exams to be delivered to UBC and then to the instructor to mark them.

No, we cannot request official UBC transcripts on behalf of a student.  You will need to log in to your Student Service Centre (SSC) and then request the transcripts be sent to the NCA directly.

We require Non-Degree students with a course limit to achieve a C+ (64%) in their course to be able to take more than one course in a term to ensure that you will be successful. 

Access Studies and Unclassified students are expected to maintain a passing mark in each course they take with Online Learning at Allard.  Students that fail two (2) classes are automatically withdrawn and will not be allowed to take further classes with Online Learning at Allard.