National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore has come up with a Bachelor of Legislative Law (LLB) programme for graduates from any discipline. The three-year course will commence from the 2022 academic session.
The decision to introduce the new programme was announced by NLSIU vice-chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy at the university’s 29th annual convocation held on October 31.
This programme is different from Master of Laws (LLM), which can only be pursued by graduates with a law degree. The new interdisciplinary LLB course will be embedded in an experiential learning pedagogy.
The first batch of students will be starting this programme from July 2022. The new three-year course has been launched by the university three decades after introducing its integrated five-year BA LLB programme.
Krishnaswamy informed that the varsity has secured the necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities as well as the governing bodies to launch this programme.
The vice-chancellor recalled that NLSIU was established in 1988 with a rather audacious curricular experiment -- the five-year integrated BA LLB programme. This experiment succeeded beyond expectations and secured NLS’s legacy as the institution that incubated and radically disrupted legal education in India, he added.
Krishnaswamy detailed a few measures undertaken in the varsity’s journey towards financial sustainability, despite the adverse conditions owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Steps taken by NLSIU to sustain itself financially during the pandemic:
- In the past couple of years, the university reversed the budget deficits by augmenting revenues and tight expenditure control.
- Highly qualified staff were recruited to ensure current financial policies would preserve the varsity’s financial autonomy, while creating resources to adopt aggressive and sustainable growth plans.
- In the current financial year, NLSIU refunded a portion of student fees in view of the pandemic, but still managed to generate surpluses that were committed to rebuilding core infrastructure.
- NLSIU aims to increase diversity by admitting students from various marginalized sections of society, looking to expand its intake to 2,200 students across all programmes by 2028-29.
NLSIU plans to secure an additional 12 acres of land with support from the Karnataka government to construct 90,000 sq ft of classroom and learning spaces, and 2,50,000 sq ft of residential facilities.
Krishnaswamy added that the university aims to achieve a 1:15 faculty-student ratio across all programmes in the near future.