Curricular Structures at the NLUs

The following extract appears at pp. 57-62 of a report titled 'Suggestions for Reforms at the National Law Universities set up through State Legislations' which was submitted to the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India in March 2018. It was based on surveys conducted among faculty members (33 respondents) and students (849 respondents) at 15 participating institutions in August-September 2016. I was one of the authors of this report. We welcome any feedback. 

The full text can be downloaded here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3171842.

Curricular Structures at the NLUs

The discussion on the quality of teaching is intertwined with debates about the curricular structure that is followed at the various National Law Universities (NLUs). A moot point is whether it makes sense to prescribe a uniform curricular structure in a country as vast and diverse as India. While the Bar Council of India’s Rules on Legal Education (2008) stipulate a demarcation between ‘compulsory’ and ‘optional’ courses, more nuanced deliberations are needed to work out a pragmatic balance for each institution while bearing in mind local specificities and availability of teachers. Given that the NLUs enjoy a certain degree of academic autonomy that is not available to departments and colleges that are part of larger public universities, it is worthwhile to briefly sketch how this autonomy has been used in relation to curriculum design.

If we take the five-year integrated B.A., LL.B. programme as a representative example, there are two models prevailing at the moment. NLSIU Bangalore and NLIU Bhopal are following a ‘trimester’ model, wherein each academic year is broken into three equivalent terms of nearly 13 weeks each. During each term, students ordinarily complete 4 courses, implying that the programme as a whole requires the completion of 60 courses over a duration of five years. All the other NLUs are following the ‘semester’ model, wherein each academic year is broken into two equivalent terms of 17-18 weeks each. Students ordinarily complete 5 courses in each semester, implying that the programme as a whole requires the completion of 50 courses over a duration of five years. The courses delivered to the students are usually divided into:-

(i) ‘Compulsory’ subjects as prescribed under the BCI Rules on Legal Education, 2008. Most of these are taught courses which are assessed through written examinations, project assignments and presentations made by students. This list also includes ‘Clinical’ courses which are practice-oriented and entail students honing their skills through simulated activities.

(ii) ‘Optional’ subjects that can be further sub-classified as:-

(a) ‘Elective’ courses (taught courses substantially assessed through written examinations);

(b) ‘Seminar’ courses (discussion-based courses assessed through research papers);

Table VI: List of compulsory subjects prescribed for completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LL.B.) under BCI Rules on Legal Education, 2008 (Schedule II)

1. Jurisprudence (Legal Methods, Indian Legal System and Basic Theories of Law)	14. Administrative Law
2. Law of Contracts I - General Principles	15. Company Law
3. Law of Contracts II - Special Contracts	16. Public International Law
4. Law of Torts (including Motor Vehicles Act and Consumer Protection Act)	17. Principles of Taxation Law
5. Family Law I – Marriage and Divorce	18. Environmental Law
6. Family Law II – Inheritance and Succession	19. Labour Law I
7. Criminal Law I – Indian Penal Code and Offences under other Legislations	20. Labour Law II
8. Criminal Law II – Criminal Procedure Code	Clinical Courses
9. Constitutional Law I – Structures of Governance (Federalism, Separation of Powers)	21. Drafting of Pleadings and Conveyancing
10. Constitutional Law II – Adjudication and Enforcement of Fundamental Rights	22. Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting Systems
11. Property Law	23. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
12. Law of Evidence	24. Moot Court Exercises & Internships
13. Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act

Among the other subjects that are prescribed for the five-year integrated B.A., LL.B. programme, students are required to complete foundational courses in disciplines such as History, Economics, Political Science, Sociology and English. The usual pattern is that the first course in each of these disciplines introduces the architecture of knowledge in the respective field while the second course emphasizes the linkages between that discipline and the formal study of law. At most of the NLUs, the subjects that introduce these disciplines are interspersed with law subjects during the first two years of undergraduate studies. Some of them also offer integrated programmes such as B.B.A., LL.B., B.Com., LL.B. and B.Sc., LL.B. that include courses devoted to business administration, commerce and science subjects respectively. While the inclusion of these courses was intended to create an interdisciplinary orientation among faculty members and students, there are some pointed concerns about the actualisation of this objective. They range from the marginalisation of teachers engaged for these disciplines especially when it comes to academic decision-making to the relative indifference of students who often fail to grasp the importance of interdisciplinary learning.

The BCI Rules on Legal Education, 2008 also contain a suggestive list of optional subjects that can be taught to construct thematic specializations in ‘Constitutional Law’, ‘Business Law’, ‘International Trade Law’, ‘Criminal Law’, ‘International Law, ‘Law and Agriculture’ and ‘Intellectual Property Law’ among other sub-fields,. Institutions have been given the autonomy to initiate specializations in areas that have not been enumerated. The actual breadth of optional courses offered and delivered at each institution depends on the availability of teachers and requisite resources. The prevailing wisdom is that giving students more flexibility in coursework will enable them to better align academic pursuits with their interests and subsequent career objectives. Providing such flexibility during the later years of the undergraduate programme may help in addressing the problem of student apathy which becomes quite evident by that stage. Another reason for such diversification is that it enables faculty members to design and deliver courses that better reflect their distinctive research interests. This would ensure that students can directly benefit from the research expertise of the faculty members.

However, there is also a competing concern that too much flexibility during undergraduate programmes will limit the students’ exposure to the various sub-fields within legal studies. Furthermore in the immediate context of the NLUs, the worry is that students who are paying substantial fees will gravitate towards optional courses that are closely tied to the needs of the corporate legal sector while ignoring other areas of academic inquiry. Yet another localized criticism is that if students are free to choose among optional courses, most of them will opt for those taught by teachers who are known to be lenient in evaluation and make lesser demands in respect of reading assignments and class participation requirements. This may lead to oversubscription in optional courses which do not substantially enhance the student’s knowledge or skill levels while at the same time the instructors who enforce more rigorous standards are likely to be left with smaller class sizes.

Irrespective of the factors outlined above, all of the institutions covered in our study have introduced a certain extent of flexibility in their curricular practices. In most cases, students in the final year of the five-year integrated programmes can opt for some elective courses. However, only a few NLUs have implemented a Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) in the substantive sense by introducing optional subjects during the earlier years of study. In its original curricular structure that was followed for nearly three decades, NLSIU Bangalore provided for 8 optional subjects during the fifth year, which accounted for approximately 13% of the aggregate coursework requirements. However, the same institution has moved towards more flexibility in the academic year 2017-2018, with optional subjects commencing during the third year of undergraduate studies. In this respect, WBNUJS Kolkata had been the first mover among the NLUs with a Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) introduced in 2008-2009 wherein optional subjects commence in the third year. NALSAR Hyderabad started a comparable transition in 2012-2013, with the coursework during the fourth and fifth year largely consisting of optional subjects that have a further demarcation between Elective, Seminar and Clinical courses. Now that this transition is complete, the optional subjects account for 36% of the aggregate coursework in the five-year integrated undergraduate programme. Institutions such as RGNUL Patiala and NLU Odisha allow their undergraduate students to obtain a thematic specialization by picking a designated cluster of subjects during the fourth and fifth year of studies. In such cases, the student can be awarded a first degree in law (LL.B.) with honours in the chosen area of specialization.

If we turn towards the LL.M. programme (Masters’ in Law), the University Grants Commission (UGC) has laid down some prescriptions for its curricular structure from time to time. The most recent set of prescriptions directed the transition towards a one-year LL.M. programme beginning in the academic year 2013-2014. Accordingly, this programme now requires enrolled students to complete three compulsory subjects, six optional subjects and a master’s level dissertation within an academic year. The three compulsory subjects are as follows:-

(i) ‘Law and Justice in a Globalizing World’;

(ii) ‘Comparative Public Law and Systems of Governance’;

(iii) ‘Research Methods and Legal Writing’.

The six optional subjects can be spread across semesters or trimesters, depending on the model chosen by each institution. LL.M. students are required to opt for at least four optional subjects that form part of a thematic cluster in order to obtain a specialization. While some NLUs ask their postgraduate students to opt for an area of specialization (with a specified basket of optional courses) at the beginning of the academic year, others allow them to build their specialisations over the course of the programme. Those who do not take the required number of courses to build a particular specialization can receive a ‘General’ LL.M. The writing of a master’s level dissertation is undoubtedly an intensive exercise. The written output can be further developed for publication in scholarly journals or serve as the basis for pursuing M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes in due course.

In the long-run, offering a broader range of optional courses requires sustained investments in faculty development, both in terms of holding regular recruitment cycles and the enhancement of expertise for teaching and research. This is even more important for the purpose of running postgraduate and research offerings such as the LL.M., M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes. Many of the NLUs are struggling in this regard since they do not have sufficient depth in their teaching capacity to offer such advanced programmes of study. While a pool of recently recruited Assistant Professors may be capable of teaching the compulsory subjects at the undergraduate level, the delivery of courses at the level of offering thematic specializations, postgraduate courses and research supervision requires faculty members who possess significantly more teaching experience and scholarly credentials.

The optional courses offered by the faculty members at each institution can be supplemented with shorter optional courses taught by practitioners and visiting scholars. Courses taught by judges, advocates and those working in commercial law firms as well as business houses can forge meaningful relationships in the long-run. These can directly benefit the institution in terms of the knowledge disseminated while also improving the employment opportunities for students upon graduation. Inviting scholars who are affiliated with other Universities, Research Institutions and Civil Society organisations is also an effective way of compensating for inadequacies in teaching capacity. Furthermore, the NLUs have now been included in the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN). Under this programme, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India gives financial assistance for inviting academicians from foreign universities to teach short courses, carrying 1 credit (12-16 class hours) or 2 credits (20-24 class hours). While some NLUs have begun utilizing this route, all of them could conceivably benefit from it.

If the requisite financial resources are available, invitations can be issued to foreign academics to be engaged as ‘Visiting Professors’ or ‘Research Fellows’ for a semester or an entire academic year. This route can potentially be better utilized if the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India exempts foreign academicians from the requirement of receiving a minimum annual salary of US$ 25,000 in order to obtain an employment visa to work in India. Given the relatively lower pay-scales in India’s public universities, it is ordinarily quite difficult to earmark funds for paying significantly higher salaries to foreign nationals. On this count, some of the private universities which have much higher fee-structures and stronger financial backing are finding it easier to engage the services of foreign faculty members for longer durations, often by paying them much higher salaries than their Indian counterparts.

Suggested Readings:

1. Upendra Baxi, 'Notes Towards a Socially Relevant Legal Education: A Working Paper for the UGC Regional Workshops in Law 1975-77', 51 Journal of the Bar Council of India (1975-76).

2. Jill Cottrell, '10+2+5: A Change in the Structure of Indian Legal Education', 36(3) Journal of Legal Education 331-357 (1986).

3. Gurjeet Singh, 'Revamping Professional Legal Education: Some Observations on Revised LL.B. Curriculum of Bar Council of India', 41(2) Journal of the Indian Law Institute 237-255 (1999).

4. Divya Venugopal, 'The Elephant in the Room: Dealing with Final Year Disengagement', 7(1) NALSAR Student Law Review 62-75 (2008).

5. N.R. Madhava Menon, 'The Transformation of Indian Legal Education – A Blue Paper' (Harvard Law School Programme on the Indian Legal Profession, 2012).

6. Jonathan Gingerich & Nicholas Robinson, 'Responding to the Market: The Impact of the Rise of Corporate Law Firms on Elite Legal Education in India' (Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession, 2014).

Improving Service Conditions for Faculty Members at the NLUs

The following extract appears at pp. 90-94 of a report titled 'Suggestions for Reforms at the National Law Universities set up through State Legislations' which was submitted to the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India in March 2018. It was based on surveys conducted among faculty members (33 respondents) and students (849 respondents) at 15 participating institutions in August-September 2016. I was one of the authors of this report. We welcome any feedback on its contents.  

The full text can be downloaded here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3171842.

Improving Service Conditions for Faculty Members

Admittedly, the problem of unsatisfactory teaching in the National Law Universities (NLUs) cannot be tackled through reliance on student feedback alone. In many cases, the immediate cause is a mismatch between a teacher’s prior training and the assignment of teaching responsibilities. As described earlier, the overarching problem is that of a limited pool of individuals with the requisite qualifications who are willing to take up full-time teaching positions. Among those who are available, there tends to be a concentration of qualifications in certain fields such as constitutional law, substantive penal laws and public international law. Inevitably, practice-oriented subjects such as the laws relating to property, taxation and procedure are frequently taught by those who don’t have much exposure to the uncertainties that arise while dealing with clients and public officials in a professional setting. While there are a few who choose to teach these subjects after gaining experience in litigious or transactional settings, a majority of full-time teachers do not have such a background. While some career academicians may progressively become well versed with the statutes, precedents and principles related to these fields, students tend to feel shortchanged in the interim. The situation becomes even more unsatisfactory when efforts to involve practising lawyers in the taught programmes attract those who may be unsuited for the latter. In some notable cases, even eminent justices and lawyers have struggled to perform in classrooms whose dynamics are fundamentally different from those inside the courtroom.

There are numerous instances where full-time instructors are initially hired to teach a given set of subjects but are subsequently asked to teach subjects in which they may have no previous experience or exposure. In conditions of scarcity, this may be a compromise that is eventually accepted by the immediate stakeholders. However, it is difficult to defend such a mismatch in highly selective institutions such as the NLUs that receive public funding and recover a considerable portion of their operating costs from tuition fees paid by students who are enrolled in their full-time taught programmes. The substantial reliance on teachers appointed on an ‘ad-hoc’ or ‘visiting’ basis tends to aggravate this problem of misallocation. Those who are hopeful of being considered for permanent positions would be reluctant to openly disagree with directives given by their administrative superiors. Those who are in ‘ad-hoc’ or ‘visiting’ positions do not have a sense of job security since their services can be terminated without the assignment of reasons. There is the very real possibility of such checkerboard solutions becoming the norm and thereby eroding the quality of instruction inside the classroom.

Many of our respondents pointed towards disparities prevailing in the service conditions for faculty members. During the course of our visits, we gathered that most of the NLUs have on average engaged 30-40 % of their full-time teachers on an ‘ad-hoc’ or ‘visiting’ basis. Only NLU Delhi, RMLNLU Lucknow and NLUJA Assam have engaged more than 80% of their faculty members in permanent positions. On the other end of the spectrum, institutions such as NLU Jodhpur and GNLU Gandhinagar have predominantly relied upon temporary appointments of teachers since their inception. The applicable regulations notified by the University Grants Commission (UGC) state that the number of teachers in temporary positions at a particular institution should not exceed 10% of the total faculty strength and that this route is specifically meant for contingencies such as regular faculty members discontinuing services or going on leave. At most of the NLUs, the non-teaching staff members are also largely occupying temporary positions. However, the overall situation at the NLUs still appears to be better than most public universities in India, many of whom presently have very high vacancy rates owing to delays of several years in conducting recruitments for filling up permanent positions. This had led to a situation where a vast majority of teachers serving in public universities and government-run colleges are doing so in ad-hoc positions. The rapidly growing sector of private universities has a natural preference for contractual appointments that make it easier to ‘hire and fire’ talent as per the fluctuating needs of an employer.

If we adopt the standpoint of those in decision-making roles, there are a few plausible arguments for retaining teachers in temporary positions for some time before considering them for permanent positions. Especially for new entrants to the profession, the time spent in temporary positions gives a good sense of whether they are well-suited for the role and are interested in teaching as a long-term career option. Some would argue that giving permanent jobs too easily would create an attitude of complacency at the early stages of one’s career. The more pragmatic argument seems to be that the continuation of teachers in temporary positions helps the institution to control spending in a context where financial support from the State is limited. This is because teachers in temporary positions usually receive consolidated salaries that are much lower than those of permanent teachers who receive emoluments based on the pay-scales notified by the Government.

However, a heavy dependence on teachers in temporary positions is not healthy for an educational institution in the long run. Prolonged engagement in temporary positions with lower pay can prove to be quite demotivating and lead to a high rate of attrition among teachers who will understandably leave once they get better employment opportunities elsewhere. Such consequences would pre-empt the improvements in curricular content and teaching standards that tend to happen if the same person continues to teach a particular set of subjects over several years. Hence, there should be a thorough review of the existing service conditions in order to draw a fair balance between the objectives of ensuring efficiency and giving employees a certain sense of stability as well as financial security. There should be a time-bound regularisation of the services of those employees who have been hired on a contractual basis, subject to their satisfactory performance. A service-period of 2-3 years in temporary positions is more than sufficient to assess an individual’s suitability for a permanent position.

There should be conscious efforts to improve service conditions – both in terms of material benefits as well as opportunities for career-advancement. It is not desirable to have a wide disparity between the pay-scales offered to teachers at the various NLUs since that may encourage poaching of individuals. We are already witnessing a clear diversion of teaching talent towards private universities that offer comparatively higher salaries. Each institution should also implement measures to provide ‘group medical insurance’ coverage for their faculty members and administrative staff. Especially in cities where costs of accommodation are high, the provision of relatively cheaper accommodation inside residential campuses is a significant incentive. Furthermore, one can look to the example set by some of the IITs and IIMs to grasp the importance of raising resources through contributions made by private parties. The funds gathered from such sources can be distributed as research grants among faculty members. Faculty members should be given adequate time to engage in their independent research projects which could be funded by external sources such as government agencies, private businesses or voluntary sector organisations.

It is in this context that the workload policies for full-time teachers at the NLUs should account for time that needs to be spent for meaningfully supervising student assignments while also pursuing one’s own research agenda. This is especially important for the serving teachers themselves since contributions made to scholarly literature carry substantial weightage for promotions in academic institutions. In the broader sense, it is also important for the institutions to be able to show that their faculty members and research scholars are publishing their work in credible peer-reviewed journals, engaged in sponsored research projects and producing books that will be given a broad platform by established academic publishing houses. Showcasing research output is absolutely vital for the NLUs to gain a position of prominence in national and international rankings of universities which place far more importance to this aspect when compared with other parameters of academic excellence. Even more significantly, high quality scholarship produced by serving teachers can give them a broader audience and reputation that goes far beyond the confines of their respective institutions. It is in this sense that we can make a cursory comparison of the workload policies for full-time teachers across the different NLUs. While some institutions such as NLU Jodhpur and RGNUL Patiala that have larger class sizes follow the norm of each teacher engaging 16-18 class hours per week, there are others such as WBNUJS Kolkata and NALSAR Hyderabad where the average teaching responsibilities range between 8-10 class hours per week. Some institutions have enjoyed a locational advantage in terms of attracting teaching talent and have retained smaller class sizes. Hence, NLU Delhi and NLSIU Bangalore have been adhering to a norm of each teacher delivering 5-6 class hours per week. It goes without saying that each institution makes such decisions after accounting for the availability of teachers and the size of the student body. However, it is not wise to place excessive burdens on serving teachers and thereby make it difficult for them to devote time for their independent research.

In respect of reservation norms for recruitment to permanent teaching positions, all public educational institutions in India are obliged to preferentially consider candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) as well as those identified as Persons with Disabilities. Some States have reservation policies that favour candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBCs). While we were not able to gather reliable data to examine this issue in the context of the NLUs, the widespread feeling among our respondents was that the overall representation of teachers from marginalized backgrounds is quite minimal, often below 5% of the total faculty strength in some of the participating institutions. Unlike reservation norms for students which have to be met on an annual basis, there is no impending obligation to fill up vacancies for faculty positions since institutions usually retain the discretion of not filling them up during a particular round of selections. Such practices feed the criticism that candidates who come from such disadvantaged backgrounds get a raw deal when they apply for positions at highly selective educational institutions. This in turn contributes to the view that students from disadvantaged backgrounds do not have adequate support for coping with an institutional environment that is largely shaped by persons from dominant caste backgrounds.


Suggested Readings:

1. Amita Dhanda, 'The Power of One: The Law Teacher in the Academy', in Amita Dhanda & Archana Parashar (eds.), Decolonization of Legal Knowledge (Routledge Publishers, 2009), pp. 261-281. 
2. Jane E. Schukoske, 'Legal Education Reform in India: Dialogue Among Indian Law Teachers', 1(1) Jindal Global Law Review 251-279 (2009). 
3. Lovely Dasgupta, 'Reforming Indian Legal Education: Linking Research and Teaching', 59(3) Journal of Legal Education 432-449 (2010). 
4. Anup Surendranath & Chinmayi Arun, 'Elite Law Varsities: The Crisis Within', LiveMint (April 26, 2012). 
5. Mansi Sood, 'Legal Education and Its Outcomes: Digging Deeper into the Successes and Failures of India‟s National Law Schools' [Available through Social Science Research Network (SSRN), November 2017]. 

Reforming Governance Structures at the NLUs

The following extract appears at pp. 102-106 of a report titled 'Suggestions for Reforms at the National Law Universities set up through State Legislations' which was prepared by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. It was submitted to the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India earlier this year. It was based on surveys conducted among faculty members (33 respondents) and students (849 respondents) at 15 participating institutions in August-September 2016. I was one of the authors of this report. We welcome any feedback on its contents.

The full text can be downloaded here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3171842.

Reforming Governance Structures

We now turn to some of the opinions gathered in respect of the governance structures at the NLUs. While this issue would be better examined through institution-specific case studies, we have tried to briefly recount some of the concerns that appear to be common to many of the institutions covered by our study. One thread touches on worries about the excessive centralization of decision-making authority in the hands of incumbent Vice-Chancellors. The Vice-Chancellor serves as both the academic and administrative head of a higher education institution. Owing to the relatively small size of the NLUs when compared with larger public Universities, there is bound to be more scrutiny exercised by a Vice-Chancellor in matters of day-to-day administration. It would be a logical consequence of this situation that faculty members, non-teaching staff and students would be interacting with the head of the institution more often than what is the case at larger public Universities. A high degree of familiarity between the respective stakeholders may enable more responsive decision-making in the short-run but can also generate distrust in the long-run.

A certain degree of control is expected in the performance of routine co-ordination functions such as authorizing construction of physical infrastructure and procurement of essential materials (such as books for the library and groceries for dining facilities). However, that should not preclude disclosures about administrative decision-making. The lack of publicly verifiable information about spending decisions creates undue apprehensions about graft and self-dealing behaviour. So the periodic disclosure of spending decisions is an effective means of preventing or allaying such apprehensions. As mentioned earlier in this Report, this can be easily done by uploading the annual financial statements of the institution on its official website after they have been independently audited and approved by the Governing Bodies.

In comparison, there is a much higher expectation of transparency and fairness in decision-making when it comes to academic matters such as recruitment of teachers, allocation of teaching responsibilities and the handling of grievances related to teaching and evaluation. At many of the institutions covered by our study, we heard testimonies detailing instances where incumbent Vice-Chancellors had used their discretion in a very expansive manner when it comes to academic matters. A very troubling set of instances reported at NLSIU Bangalore deals with interference in the evaluation of examinations by individual teachers. The existing procedures for re-evaluation were invoked to modify marks given by the Course Instructors, with no involvement of other faculty members or subject experts. Such interference might be couched as a remedial intervention in order to protect students who are struggling to cope with the coursework, but it seriously undermines the presumption of academic autonomy which has been touted as a distinctive feature of the NLUs. Not only does such interference seriously demotivate teachers, but it also distorts the incentives for students to work hard for completing their coursework. Respondents at several institutions criticized the lack of open deliberations on academic matters. Pointed references were made to the discontinuation of regular faculty meetings and the casual overturning of decisions made by internal committees constituted to administer the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes respectively. Some Vice-Chancellors are known to prefer dealing with grievances in an individualized manner rather than attempting to resolve problems through collective deliberation. Even in dealing with individual representations, there might be an intentional avoidance of difficult and inconvenient questions. Like in the case of public institutions at large, the concentration of powers in a few hands can severely compromise the elements of expertise, efficiency and predictability that are expected in decision-making.

Another set of respondents pointed out that many of the incumbent NLU Vice-Chancellors have been selected for these roles after acquiring their previous work experience in very different institutional settings. Hence some of them tend to be quite indifferent to problems such as teachers neglecting their professional responsibilities and students being visibly apathetic towards their coursework. At a few institutions, no concrete action has been taken despite classes for several subjects not being held regularly and reports of irregularities in the conduct of examinations. Such indifference may also extend to the domain of faculty recruitments if the head of the institution does not see the importance of attracting talented and motivated teachers. In many cases, candidates with impressive scholarly credentials have been overlooked in favour of mediocre teachers at the stage of recruitment and promotion. There were also personalized criticisms such as some Vice-Chancellors demonstrating a decidedly ‘feudal’ style of management where benefits such as fast-track promotions are handed out to teachers and employees who display loyalty. On the other hand, those who are openly critical of administrative decisions tend to have slower career advancement or may even face retaliatory action such as termination of services without assignment of reasons (if they are in temporary positions) and trumped up disciplinary proceedings if they happen to be in permanent positions.

While some of these criticisms might have been overstated, there is no doubt that the selection of the NLU Vice-Chancellors needs to be made in a broad-based manner. At present, the Search-cum-Selection Committees are constituted by the Chancellors and consist of nominees from the Judiciary, the Bar and Academia. The academic nominee tends to play an important role in these committees and is usually an incumbent at a comparable institution. They invite applications from eligible candidates (usually individuals who have served as a Professor of Law for at least ten years) and then shortlist them based on the demonstrated academic and administrative credentials. The shortlisted candidates are then called for interviews by the Chancellor before the final selection is made. This process needs to be conducted with more transparency and it would be better if stakeholders such as faculty members, the elected student body and the alumni association of the concerned institution are at least given an opportunity to provide feedback on the list of applicants before the processes of shortlisting and final selection are completed. This will improve the chances of selecting candidates who possess the desirable balance between scholarly credentials and administrative abilities.

When it comes to the functioning of the Governing Bodies of the NLUs such as the General Council (GC), Executive Council (EC) and Academic Council (AC), there were pointed questions about the role played by existing stakeholders such as the Judiciary, the Bar, and representatives from the respective State Governments. Most of the representatives are preoccupied with their professional responsibilities and tend to view their involvement in these bodies as a nominal function. The representation of permanent faculty members is largely dependent on the personal discretion of the incumbent Vice-Chancellors. It is quite possible that the external representatives may lack the time and the proximity needed to understand the immediate concerns of the primary stakeholders, namely the students enrolled in full-time programmes at these residential campuses. In such a scenario, there are good arguments to provide for the formal representation of the alumni associations in the Governing Bodies of the NLUs. Such an inclusion may become possible within ten years of the commencement of the taught programmes at a particular institution. Representatives chosen from the alumni are more likely to present an informed take on the day-to-day affairs of the University since they are familiar with its needs and also have a long-term interest in maintaining its reputation. They may be able to better understand and articulate issues concerning teaching standards and curriculum reform apart from facilitating support for student-initiated activities.

Apart from the formal governance structures, we should not overlook the role of elected student associations when it comes to day-to-day matters of campus life inside the NLUs. On this count, there is considerable disparity among the NLUs that have been set up so far. While some of them have student associations chosen through annual elections, there are a few where student representatives are nominated by the administration. Even among the institutions that do have elected student associations, there are different models in place. For instance, at NLSIU Bangalore and WBNUJS Kolkata, the student body directly elects two office bearers (President and Vice-President) while a number of activity based committees are constituted through selections made on the basis of previous experience in the concerned activity. In comparison, students at NALSAR Hyderabad chose all of their activity based committees through elections conducted at the level of each batch, whereas office-bearers or chosen through a mixture of direct elections (President and Vice-President) and indirect elections (Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer). In stark contrast, NLU Jodhpur has a model where the office-bearers of the student association are nominated on the basis of academic performance. NLIU Bhopal did not have an elected student association so far, but plans are afoot to constitute one in wake of the recent protests on their campus.

There are different ways of looking at the role performed by student associations. Their foremost role is to act as a bridge between administrative officials, faculty members and the student community. Grievances related to teaching standards and the inadequate provision of facilities (for example dissatisfaction with library resources, quality of hostel accommodation and dining facilities) can be addressed in a participatory manner if there is a commitment to problem-solving through an open dialogue. It would be a mistake to view student associations themselves as a cause of discord. By establishing clear channels for students to raise their problems and work towards constructive solutions, the institution gains in the long-run. Apart from this representational role, student associations can enhance the quality of campus life by organising a range of co-curricular and recreational activities. For many law students, consistent involvement in co-curricular activities such as Moot Court Competitions, Competitive Debating and Simulations of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods provide a channel for deepening their academic learning as well as communication skills. The residential nature of these campuses also allows students to be involved with different forms of community-building activities such as informal discussion groups and hobby clubs among others. Similarly, the organisation of sports and cultural activities can also add value to the associational life of what are otherwise quite intensive academic environments. 

Suggested Readings:

1. Shamnad Basheer & Srovon Mukherjee, 'Regulating Indian Legal Education: Some Thoughts on Reform' [Available through Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), January 2010].
2. Yogesh Pai & Prabhash Ranjan, 'Legal Education at Crossroads', The Hindu Business Line (May 15, 2013).  
3. Ruchira Goswami et. al., 'Conversation with Prof. Madhava Menon, Former Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU and WBNUJS', Journal of Indian Law and Society Blog (March 13, 2014).