Bachelor of Legal and Dispute Studies

RMIT offers a variety of learning and teaching approaches including lectures, seminars, studios, workshops, presentations and group discussions.

Your lectures and tutorials will take place in a number of different spaces, including traditional lecture theatres and the interactive theatres in RMIT's Swanston Academic Building.

You will complete a wide range of assessments, including essays, online tests and group presentations, and you may also submit some of your assessment online.

Academics are actively involved in teaching, research and professional practice in agencies such as the Dispute Settlement Centre (Victoria), Amnesty International Australia and the Australian Human Rights Teachers’ Network.

All programs are delivered in English. You will have access online and digital resources through the myRMIT student portal.

This program includes a variety of learning experiences such as:

• fieldwork
• work placements
• rich online study environments
• real-world projects

In your final year, you will have the opportunity to undertake a 50-day supervised field placement or internship. These internships have assisted past students in gaining employment within the industry.

Previous field placements have taken place in:

• Department of Justice
• Victorian Legal Aid
• community legal centres
• private law firms
• Dispute Settlement Centre, Victoria

Integral to the success of RMIT justice programs are their close links with the Dispute Resolution Centre, the court system, community legal centres and criminal justice agencies. These links influence and complement program design, development and delivery.

This program is developed in consultation with an advisory committee made up of representatives from the Department of Justice, courts and tribunals, Corrections Victoria, Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and the wider justice community. Their involvement ensures that the program is vocationally relevant, meets the needs of graduate employers and incorporates the latest issues emerging in the sector.

RMIT University is committed to providing you with an education that strongly links formal learning with professional or vocational practice.

Graduates work in administration and research within a legal context or as human rights and community workers in government and non-government agencies, or progress to further studies in law, mediation and negotiation.

Employment opportunities are primarily in the paralegal field for roles as dispute resolution professionals, and in policy positions in:

• private firms
• government departments
• corporations
• legal aid
• council legal offices
• tribunals
• activist organisations
• community legal services

Careers

• paralegal
• indigenous services liaison
• youth justice officer
• legal aid
• law clerk
• victim support officer
• legal policy officer
• counsellor
• judge’s associate
• case manager

You have the opportunity to undertake international study tours where you can apply your knowledge to real-world projects in international contexts. Past study tours have included students participating in an international forum on migration and human trafficking in the Philippines. Students returning from study tours are able to reflect on the new perspectives they have gained and the experiences they have enjoyed.

You are encouraged to take one semester of the program at a partner university. RMIT University has exchange partners all over the world including the US, Mexico, China, Chile and more.

By combining international exchange, professional internship and international research projects, you may be away for an entire year. Financial support is available through scholarships, RMIT travel grants and government loans.

RMIT’s Global Experience Office (GEO) supports students to undertake exchange or short-term mobility activities with over 165 partner universities worldwide.