Nearly 100 law students have presented a petition to administrators at City University calling for a part-time postgraduate course, which enables them to become law trainees, to be reinstated following its cancellation.
About 200 students have been affected after CityU's law school decided to cancel the part-time Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL) course spread over two years, which was due to start in September.
The part-time course had been offered by CityU since the 2000-01 academic year, but students who applied online earlier this year for September's 2010-11 course were notified of its cancellation by a message on the website.
Affected students at CityU's law school include both LLB (bachelor of law) and JD (Juris Doctor) graduates.
The University of Hong Kong's law faculty is now the only university law school in the city to offer the part-time PCLL course. But it has only 60 places for the forthcoming academic year and, while some affected CityU students have applied, traditionally most of HKU's PCLL places go to HKU graduates.
One affected student - who asked to remain anonymous - completed a degree overseas and first enrolled at CityU in 2006 for a part-time course in JD (equivalent to a postgraduate level) said CityU's law school had not consulted students before cancelling the PCLL course. 'There's not even a grace period,' he said.