PGDip in Intellectual Property Law and Practice
About the course
The Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Intellectual Property Law and Practice is a vocational course for people embarking on a career in intellectual property (IP) law and practice. It is a one-year, part-time course, taught by senior practitioners and academics, and designed to provide a grounding in the fundamentals of IP law and practice.
The diploma comprises a two-week residential programme held in September at one of Oxford's colleges and a series of weekend workshops held from October to June in London law firms. Teaching is provided by a mix of practising and academic lawyers and covers the full range of IP subjects, including patents, trademarks, unfair competition and passing off, trade secrets, designs, copyright and moral rights as well as key aspects of litigious and non-litigious IP practice and procedure.
The residential programme is taught by means of a series of lectures delivered in close succession which contextualise the various course elements and make conceptual links between them, and also deal with the more theoretical elements of the course. The workshop sessions involve interactive seminars in which students are taught in small groups by experienced IP practitioners, and help them to build on the theoretical grounding gained from the residential programme. Students are responsible for their own academic progress. What this will mean in practical terms will vary significantly from one week to the next given the fact that the great majority of students taking the diploma are doing so while continuing to meet important professional commitments.
During the academic year you will be advised to divide your time as follows:
- At least four hours in preparation for each workshop, 1-/1.5 hours watching the online lecture and the remainder of the time familiarising yourself with the pre-workshop readings.
- Eight hours per workshop
- Ten to sixteen hours of work for each assignment
Attendance
The PG Dip is not available by distance learning. All students must attend the residential programme and all workshops in Oxford and London in person.
Although there will be no requirement to live in Oxford or London, students must be able to travel to either location on a monthly basis so they would need to be based within a comfortable travelling distance from both cities.
Resources to support your study
As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of world-class resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.
The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.
The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students, to support with learning and research.
The Law Faculty is fortunate to have outstanding library facilities provided by the Bodleian Law Library. As part of the Bodleian, the Law Library shares in all the advantages of being part of the largest university library in the country, including the receipt, under legal deposit legislation, of legal material published in the UK and Ireland.
The Law Library offers the vast majority of its holdings - some 550,000 items - on open shelves across four floors. Selected low-use material is housed in a book storage facility and is retrievable within half a day. The library serves a large community of graduate readers and academics in their research requirements. The strength of the collection lies in the depth of its UK holdings, combined with extensive holdings for European and Commonwealth jurisdictions. In addition the library holds materials relating to international law, Roman law, and jurisprudence. To complement the paper collection, the Law Library provides a wide range of online legal resources. The Bodleian’s collection of Official Papers is also housed in the Law Library.
The library has reader workstations, which provide access to legal databases. There is a Graduate Reading Room, a large seminar room, IT rooms and small ‘discussion rooms’ for private study or group work. The law librarians offer a range of classes and one-to-one sessions to support the specific research needs of graduate students.
Supervision
The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Law and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Law.
Assessment
The diploma is assessed by five written assignments and two written examinations. The assignments are spread throughout the year with each relating to a particular workshop and taking the form of a practical exercise, such as the drafting of statements of case or instructions to counsel.
Graduate destinations
The great majority of students who take the diploma will be trainees or newly qualified solicitors with law firms and barristers' chambers; and as a result, their normal career path after completing the diploma will be to continue work with the firm and the chambers in question, though with an enhanced professional profile and an expanded skill-set which will enable them to progress to senior positions more rapidly.
The University of Oxford has an excellent careers service with which the faculty has close ties; the Careers Service organises a number of events of specific interest to students wishing to pursue a career in law, and offers one-to-one advice from members of staff with knowledge and experience specific to the legal sector.
Changes to this course and your supervision
The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made if a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency occurs. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.
Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.
For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.
Entry requirements for entry in 2025-26
Proven and potential academic excellence
The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying.
Degree-level qualifications
As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:
- a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in any discipline.
For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.5 out of 4.0.
If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.
GRE General Test scores
No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.
Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience
- It is anticipated that candidates will normally be trainee or newly qualified solicitors or barristers, but other professional qualifications and experience, in particular, admission as a patent or trade mark attorney, will also be considered.
- Publications are not expected.
English language proficiency
This course requires proficiency in English at the University's higher level. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.
| Test | Minimum overall score | Minimum score per component |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic (Institution code: 0713) | 7.5 | 7.0 |
TOEFL iBT, including the 'Home Edition' (Institution code: 0490) | 110 | Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24 |
| C1 Advanced* | 191 | 185 |
| C2 Proficiency† | 191 | 185 |
*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
†Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides further information about the English language test requirement.
Declaring extenuating circumstances
If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.
References
You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Supporting documents
You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Performance at interview
Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.
Offer conditions for successful applications
If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our 'After you apply' pages provide more information about offers and conditions.
In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:
Financial Declaration
If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a Financial Declaration in order to meet your financial condition of admission.
Disclosure of criminal convictions
In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any relevant, unspent criminal convictions before you can take up a place at Oxford.
Evidence of ability to study for employed part-time applicants
If you are currently employed, you may be asked to provide evidence that your employment will not affect your ability to study and that you can commit sufficient time to fulfil all elements outlined in the course description. You may be asked to provide details about your pattern of employment and provide evidence to show how you will fulfil your commitment to make time available to study, to complete coursework, and attend course and University events and modules.
Other factors governing whether places can be offered
The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:
- the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the About section of this page;
- the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
- minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.
Law
Oxford’s Faculty of Law, one of the largest in the UK, offers you the opportunity to study alongside some of the best law graduates of your generation, under the direct supervision of some of the world’s leading legal scholars.
The Law Faculty is fortunate to have outstanding library facilities provided by the Bodleian Law Library. The library has reader workstations, and provides access to legal databases. There is a Graduate Reading Room, a large seminar room, IT rooms and small ‘discussion rooms’ for private study or group work.
The Law Faculty building houses a café/study space and the Faculty organises many academic events intended for graduate students (mainly in the form of ‘discussion groups’), some of which are available online.
Adjacent to the Law Faculty building is the Social Science Library, one of the University of Oxford's busiest lending and reference libraries, supporting staff and students in the Social Sciences Division. It offers a wide range of workspaces as well as borrowing services, printing and IT facilities, and research support.
Centre for Criminology
Pursuing an innovative programme of criminological research and delivering high quality education.
The Centre for Criminology is an embedded unit of the University’s Faculty of Law. The centre is dedicated to pursuing an innovative programme of criminological research and to delivering high-quality graduate education in criminology. It has a vibrant programme of research, aimed principally at fostering and developing clusters of research activity around the following substantive themes:
- Criminalisation
- Justice
- Punishment
- Security
- Victimisation
The Centre’s work across these areas is intersected by orientations and intellectual commitments that speak to the distinctive collective character of criminological research in Oxford. These are:
- a research focus that investigates these topics internationally and globally, and in many jurisdictions across the global north and global south;
- a conception of criminology comprised of productive dialogue between empirical enquiry and social theorising, and critical normative theorising about systems of police, criminal justice and punishment and their alternatives;
- an overarching interest in the relation of police, criminal justice and punishment to the production of social and political subjectivities (around race, gender, membership etc);
- an approach to exploring questions of order, crime and justice that is attuned to the politics of knowledge production and experiments with ‘new’ methodologies (visual, digital, de-colonial); and
- a commitment to engaging closely with practitioners, policy-makers and diverse publics with a view to using criminology to help build a better politics of order, justice and control.
These approaches to the study of crime and criminal justice inform teaching and doctoral supervision in the centre. They create an intellectually stimulating and collaborative environment to pursue your study in criminology.
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies
At the forefront of multidisciplinary research into the nature and role of law in society.
The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS) brings together scholars with diverse academic backgrounds and ambitions, who pursue their own research topics and are also encouraged to collaborate widely and develop multifaceted research programmes. Researchers address fundamental questions about the nature of law, its relations with morality, religion, and justice, and its role in regulation, government and community, the nature of rules and legalistic thought, the development of laws, legal systems and legal cultures, and the social character of the rule of law.
The CSLS welcomes students who wish to pursue research in any aspect of socio-legal studies, broadly defined. The centre's staff have a range of expertise in socio-legal research and methodologies and draw on a range of cognate fields, including anthropology, jurisprudence, political science, regulation studies, economics and sociology. Supervision can be offered in most areas of social-legal studies.
The CSLS has a community of around thirteen full-time research staff and thirty-three graduate research students. Links with leading scholars in Oxford’s Faculty of Law and throughout the University enhance the breadth of the centre’s research and the resources made available to students.
Bonavero Institute of Human Rights
Fostering world-class research in human rights law.
The Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, is dedicated to fostering world-class research in human rights law, to promoting public engagement in and understanding of human rights issues, and to building valuable conversations and collaborations between human rights scholars and human rights practitioners.
The Institute, a research centre within the Faculty of Law, is based at Mansfield College, Oxford. It seeks to provide opportunities for students at the University of Oxford to explore current issues in human rights, and to think about the application of human rights law in practice.
Courses offered by the faculty
Funding
Please note that the application deadline for this course is after the standard December and January funding deadlines, and applicants to this course are therefore ineligible for consideration for centrally-managed scholarships.
For this course, we recommend that you visit our dedicated funding pages which include details of a range of external funding, loan schemes for postgraduate study. Some scholarships may also be available through our fees, funding and scholarship search tool. You should review the information carefully, including the eligibility criteria and application deadlines, noting that not all funding opportunities are available for postgraduate diploma and postgraduate certificate courses.
Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the faculty's website.
Costs
Annual fees for entry in 2025-26
Fee status | Annual Course fees |
| Home | £11,300 |
| Overseas | £11,300 |
Information about course fees
Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges.
Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.
Where can I find further information about fees?
The Fees and Funding section of this website provides further information about course fees, including information about fee status and eligibility and your length of fee liability.
Additional information
Attendance at the Residential Programme and Workshops (including refreshments and lunches) are included in the Annual Fees. All other costs such as travel and accommodation will need to be met by students. Currently the Residential Programme and Revision Workshops are held in Oxford with the remaining workshops held in London. Students will need to pay for any accommodation for the two-week residential programme held in Oxford at the beginning of the course which we can arrange for you. This cost is expected to be in the region of £1,200 for 10 nights, including breakfast and dinner. Students can also choose to stay over the weekend for an extra cost per night including breakfast.
Living costs
In addition to your course fees and any additional course-specific costs, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.
Living costs for part-time study
Your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you will still need to cover your cost of living on a full-time basis for the duration of your course, even if you will not be based in Oxford throughout your studies. While the range of likely living costs for a single, full-time student living in Oxford is between £1,425 and £2,035 per month, living costs outside Oxford may be different.
Part-time students who are not based in Oxford will need to calculate travel and accommodation costs carefully. Depending on your circumstances and study plans, this may include the cost of a visitor visa to attend for short blocks of time (assuming that visitor visa eligibility criteria are met).
Further information about living costs
The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. For study in Oxford beyond the 2025-26 academic year, it is suggested that you budget for potential increases in living expenses of around 4% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. For further information, please consult our more detailed information about living costs, which includes a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs.
College preference
Matriculation confers membership of the University on students. Students who enrol on this course will not be matriculated and will not become a member of an Oxford college. Although not formally members of the University, non-matriculated students are expected to observe the same rules and regulations as matriculated students. Further information about matriculation is available on the Oxford Students website.
Before you apply
Our guide to getting started provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance. Check the deadlines on this page and the information about deadlines and when to apply in our Application Guide.
Application fee waivers
An application fee of £75 is payable for each application to this course. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:
- applicants from low-income countries;
- refugees and displaced persons;
- UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and
- applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.
You are encouraged to check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver before you apply.
Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?
You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.
Completing your application
You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents.
If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.
Referees:
Three overall, academic and/or professional
Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.
Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement and motivation. Both professional and academic references are acceptable.
Official transcript(s)
Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.
More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.
CV/résumé
A CV/résumé is compulsory for this course. Most applicants choose to submit a document of one to two pages highlighting their academic achievements and any relevant professional experience.
Personal statement:
A maximum of 500 words
Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at Oxford, your relevant experience and education, and the specific areas that interest you and/or you intend to specialise in.
If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.
This will be assessed for your reasons for applying, evidence of your motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study, and your ability to present a reasoned case in English.
Start or continue your application
You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please refer to the requirements above and consult our Application Guide for advice.
After you've submitted your application
Your application (including the supporting documents outlined above) will be assessed against the entry requirements detailed on this course page. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed. You can find out more about our shortlisting and selection process in our detailed guide to what happens next.
Find out how to manage your application after submission, using our Applicant Self-Service tool.