NLSIU Bengaluru has announced online four-week classes for high schoolers to help them become a lawyer, called the Foundations for a Legal Education (FLE) Certificate Course costing up to Rs 7,500.
The FLE is open to high schoolers at tenth standard grade or above, and promises that over “four rigorous weeks”, it would set students “on the path to acquire the skills and intellectual abilities” to make the “journey” to law school “easy and effective”.
With the move, India’s first national law school will be competing with similar offerings from a wider private sector of potentially lucrative pre-university education for ambitious youth (and their parents).
As such, it very much aligns with NLS and its vice-chancellor’s vision to eventually make the national law university financially independent from government funding.
We reached out to NLSIU for more details beyond what is included on its website.
Three tiers of pricing
The FLE is available from the cheapest variant of Rs 1,875, which provides access to purely online learning materials, up to a Rs 3,250 tier that includes faculty interactions, and a Rs 7,500 tier that also includes NLS issuing a certificate.
According to an NLSIU spokesperson for the course, the Rs 1,875 “content access variant” would be “for those students who wish to access all course content, but do not wish to attend classes, or interact live with faculty”.
“This variant allows access to interactive videos, reading materials, and recordings of certain faculty sessions,” explained in an NLS response.
The second tier “content access and faculty interactions variant” of the course would allow students to “attend live classes, which will be conducted by a range of NLS faculty”. “Faculty shall conduct such sessions across all focus areas of the course, such as reading critically and analysing complex materials, understanding and analysing quantitative information in context, writing persuasively, and arguing effectively,” said NLS.
The third and most expensive tier, would cost Rs 7,500 and, according to NLS would include a certificate awarded to students who successfully cleared all assessments and evaluations. We asked what practical use the certificate would have. “The certificate will show a student’s seriousness to pursue legal education and will provide them a headstart in the field of legal education,” said NLS. “Such a certificate would be an indicator of students’ abilities to think and reason critically, analyse complex materials, and present convincing arguments.”
Some more FAQs we put to NLS
We emailed some more questions about the course to NLS and have included their responses below.
Who is running the course at NLS?
NLS: “The Foundations for a Legal Education Certificate Course shall be provided through NLSIU’s Distance Education Department, and a number of NLS faculty are involved in its preparation.
“In addition to these faculty, practitioners and industry experts shall also be involved in its delivery.”
What is the maximum student capacity for the FLE and how many are you envisaging could join the first batch / throughout a year?
NLS: “There is currently no limit on the number of students that can be a part of any cohort of the course. Students may be divided into sub-groups based on the total number of applications received.”
When will the first batch start, or is it a rolling purely online course that can start any time?
NLS: “The course will be offered in multiple modes. Keeping in mind their examination schedules and academic obligations, students may choose the timing and schedule that suits them and is compatible with their academic obligations. We will announce a detailed schedule for classes shortly.”
Do you envisage that such a course could add to the financial and learning burden for young students wanting to become lawyers, many of whom already do CLAT coaching, etc?
NLS: “This certificate course is not a test-preparatory course and it is not a mandatory course. It is a foundations course for anyone interested in legal education. Those who are motivated in taking up the course may choose to do so.
“NLSIU is committed to deepening and broadening the pool of students interested in pursuing a legal education. Our effort seeks to motivate bright young high school students to consider and pursue a legal education.”
NLS said it would also be offering 26 scholarships to “deserving students” who submitted their expressions of interest for the course this week.
What kind of potential risks are there of this kind of course exacerbating issues of access to top law schools, since the costs may be too high for students from non-traditional backgrounds?
NLS: “Students may choose between the wide array of courses currently being offered in this field.
“We are confident that our course will be cost-effective and will be of the best quality offered in the country. This is our effort to broaden and deepen the pool of law students in India and to motivate students to consider and take up legal education.”
CLAT 2021 a go?
While, according to the university, the FLE is not a law admissions preparation course, we have also reached out to NLSIU vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy about whether NLS was committed to remaining within the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2021 this year.
We understand that Krishnaswamy has been attending CLAT consortium meetings.
However, in light of queries we have received from candidates following NLS’ last-minute withdrawal from the CLAT last year to create its National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) (that was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court), we thought an official clarification would be useful to candidates.
Krishnaswamy did not respond for requests for comment since earlier today.
Comments
A lot of the skills Indian law students learn even as late as their fifth year they should know before going into law school. They should know it at the end of school.
You can absolutely teach law students the law in 5 years. But more and more we are seeing more diverse group of students enter law school. And not all of them have the same skills in reading comprehension, critical analysis, argument building and writing. That is a good thing. But these students do need a primer on some of these skills. The university tries its best with first years- but this is a school education problem that should be fixed during school. Most school going students today do not learn these skills- they learn rote learning. So yes- candidates for this programme would not be learning the law- they’d be learning skills they need to learn the law- it’s a foundations course.
Try reading something twice before you fly into outrage over nothing.
This is an excellent business model but unfortunately that is all there is to it. So stop reading more into it. Hasn't the system fooled you enough already?
Yes the problem is in schools. Elite private schools do a lot more to address this than even Middle tier convent schools . Having said that- something is better than nothing. If we can’t change the education policy we might as well try and supplement that education so our students are better prepared. And that’s what this program does- and that’s fine by me.
Law does have foundation courses in the school level already- history civics even science and maths are supposed to build these skills. They don’t. This program is a supplement. There’s no need to prejudge that. There’s plenty of scam certificate courses at all nlus- and maybe this will be an exception- maybe it won’t. Only time will tell.
Whether or not it turns out to be a scam- will be proven in time. When people take the course if they feel they have got their value for money- that’s all there is to it right? The scam is having more diverse students come in to law school, not having support systems for them/ not having trained them for the rigorous curriculum, putting them through hell, and then graduating them at the bottom of the class or not graduating them at all.
He has discontinued scholarships, didn't waive fees for facilities that the students are not using, thrown out a lot of support staff and now this.
Those who thought of him as someone who would reinstate academic rigor should really introspect and see how he equates academic rigor with increasing students' stress.
Kian, are you crazy?? The price is very cheap and way too little for the Law School brand name. Disappointed to see Kian joining the uniformed SJW woke snowflake mob. People should be grateful and thank their stars that Law School is opening its doors to people who will never make it to the CLAT top 60 and for whom Law School will remain a dream. One has to pay just 7K for a Law School certificate, whereas Harvard will charge you few lakhs for a certificate course.
- "NLSIU A Unique National Institution And Not A State University"
- "NLSIU is on par with AIIMS, IIT and IIM."
- "This law school is not on par with other law schools".
This is initiative taken by Sudhir is just brilliant and will add to revenues of NLSIU and be used to improve faculty and campus infrastructure.
[/quote]
Answer: We will stay, but if the SC upholds the Karnataka HC judgement and declares us as a unique national institution of eminence, then we will leave. We are 90% sure that the the SC will do it.
Nothing is stopping your college from doing the same.
For those of you saying why is it even needed, when I had entered law school my concept of research meant to copy-paste everything from Wikipedia and format it nicely. Plagiarism wasn't even a word in my dictionary and I attended one of the better schools in my area. What's the harm if there are folks who wish to know some of this basic stuff before attending law school. NLS gets to make money on the side which is good cause more money they can make on their own, more autonomous they will be. It is clear that law schools in India including NLS simply doesn't have the lobbying capacity to get grants like IITs/IIMs so they need to come up with their own ways, and this to me at least seems a good start. At least better than starting a certificate course, because that to be honest, would be a real conflict of interest.
If you were taught basic writing and reading and analysis in legal methods- it’s because over the course of time your professors decided to do that after noticing the gap in knowledge first years had when they came in. Not because it is what LM is all about.
In an ideal world this course would be superfluous. School kids everywhere would already have learnt this stuff when they finish high school. We don’t live in an ideal world. And there’s nothing wrong with law school reaching out to the clat aspirant community. IDIA has been doing it for a while- nalsar has a for profit clat gyan which actually provides clat coaching. Even outside of that- it’s quite normal in other countries for well established universities to run summer programmes for high school students- if you don’t believe me look it up. Provided you actually want to have a reasoned discussion where we reach conclusions AFTER considering the facts.
People who really struggled in law school know that this kind of stuff is valuable and useful for them. And rather inexpensive.
See this report:
https://thewire.in/education/iim-calcutta-faculty-letter-education-ministry
So much for "Harvard of the East" ! *eye roll*
Para 74: Sri.Banerjee, learned Senior Counsel, appearing for the BCI, submitted... institutions of national eminence such as National Law School/respondent herein [b]cannot be considered to be on par with the other National Law Schools in other States. [/b]
Para 106. On a reading of the aforesaid provisions of the Act and the Schedule thereto, it is clear that the BCI, in order to discharge one of its functions, being promotion of legal education, set up a public charitable Trust and a registered Society for the purpose of establishing a model law college in India, which is headquartered in Bengaluru. ...Thus, it is clear, from its very inception, the respondent/Law School is not a State University, but a national-level institution whose genesis was in the minds of the then members of the BCI.[b] The BCI conceived and contemplated the establishment of a national level Law College and in turn constituted the BCI Trust for the purpose of establishing a model law college in India. [/b]
109. Therefore, there can be no two opinions that the BCI and its other entities, namely the BCI Trust and the National Law School of India Society incorporated by the Trust, not only played a pioneering role in the establishment of a National Law School in Bengaluru as a national-level institution, but has continued to have a great influence in advancing the objects of the School. The BCI also has a significant say in the functioning and management of the School through its membership in the various Authorities of the School. [b]No less a person than the Chief Justice of India, if he consents, shall be nominated as the Chancellor of the School [/b]by the Society. The significance of the Chief Justice of India being nominated as the Chancellor of the School by the Society cannot be undermined.
111. As a sequitur, it is inferred that the respondent/Law School is not akin to a State University established by the State Government. In fact, on a reading of the scheme of the Act, it is clear that the State Legislature was mindful of the fact that it was establishing a [b]national-level institution[/b] in the State of Karnataka and that its powers under the Act was minimal.
121. Such being the position of the respondent/Law School, as a University of n[b]ational stature and not similar to other Law Colleges or Universities...[/b]
124. [b]According to Prof.Menon, it must become the 'Harvard of the East'. In fact, the respondent/Law School is the face of legal education in India internationally.[/b]
163.
(ii) Second and more importantly, it has already been held that[b] the respondent/Law School cannot be on par, nor is it in the same league with the National Law Schools in other States[/b]. It has been elaborately discussed above that the conception, incorporation and establishment of the respondent/Law School, the nature of its curriculum, the system of conducting trimester examinations, its reservation policy and all other aspects [b]clearly distinguish the respondent/Law School from other National Law Schools in various parts of the country. [/b][b]The respondent/National Law School is a national-level institution. It is the National Law School of India. [/b][b]Its structure, functioning, management, etc., are all under the aegis of the BCI, BCI Trust and Society. That is not so in the case of other National Law Schools. [/b]
(iv) Thus[b], the National Law Schools in other States cannot be compared with or put on par with the respondent/Law School. [/b]
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/170946768/
1. A respected scholar who has degrees from top universities in India with postgrad from abroad, who has impressive publications and who tries to set high standards without being populist and catering to the lowest common denominator. Someone who will flunk you if you deserve it. Examples: Upendra Baxi, SP Sathe, MP Singh, Sudhir Krishnaswamy.
2. A person with degrees from mediocre colleges, has no great publications but tries to be populist and make people happy at the risk of lowering standards. Someone who will always give you high grades even if you submit a blank paper.
Click green (upvote) for 1 and red (downvote for two).
On the announcement, Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice Chancellor of NLSIU said that “NLSIU is committed to conducting rigorous empirical research on legal and bureaucratic institutions. Law and policy reform that builds on empirical research on regulatory governance is critical to building state capacity in India. Omidyar Network India’’s support will enable NLSIU researchers to make an original contribution to scholarship and policy on regulatory reform in India and beyond.”
Speaking about the grant, Shilpa Kumar, Partner, Omidyar Network India said: “By partnering with NLSIU, we hope to generate novel insights into the functioning of Indian regulators and build the knowledge infrastructure that policymakers can leverage to design strong and responsive institutions. A beneficiary of this exercise will be the soon-to-be-formed Data Protection Authority (DPA). The functioning of the DPA will help determine
whether Indians – especially the Next Half Billion, the five hundred million coming online for the first time – can exercise their right to privacy when they are online. Hence, we believe this project will have far reaching effects in the Indian regulatory environment.”
https://www.nls.ac.in/news-events/nlsiu-launches-regulatory-governance-research-project/
1. Making the faculty alumni-dominated
2. Opposing domicile quotas through litigation
3. Rejecting mindless quotas in faculty recruitment
4. Earning revenues for the college through innovative new courses
5. Starting research chairs and scholarships in partnership with corporate houses and firms
Do not blame Sudhir if other VCs are lethargic.
If you do not find such a course useful, don't take it. Let the market decide whether this is worthy of people's time and money.
It is quite clear there are some keyboard warriors here who will stop at nothing to criticise what is happening at NLS.
You do know that Sudhir doesn't give a flying f*$# what you guys say. So by all means add to the noise. Knowing the man he is going to do what he wants.
On another point, do all these children become part of NLSIU alumni now? Because that would be such an aww moment.
Your comments just underline major butthurt tendencies. It is so transparent it is laughable.
2. The scope of the course is clear as day. Nowhere does it mention that it is training for an entrance examination. Just repeating this lie over and over again does not make it true. Either you are daft or you are butthurt. (You could be both).
3. Your arguments are getting flimsy, maybe you are a good candidate for this course?
By all means keep on beating. You bore me now.