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| The National Law University of Odisha at Naraj, Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das |
Cuttack, Jan. 9: The National Law University, Odisha, plans to start various distant education courses from the coming academic session.
An official of the premier law institute said there were planned to introduce new courses and explore new areas beyond the traditional classroom teaching practices.
“As part of our long term vision of upgrading the law university, we will start distant education courses in emerging subjects such as commercial laws, nuclear energy laws, cyber forensics, contract negotiation management, medical laws and ethics and other allied subjects,” said varsity vice-chancellor V. Nagaraj.
The distance education programmes, the duration of which will range between one to two years, is likely to start from this academic session from March.
Nagaraj said the objective of the distant education programme was not only to generate revenue for the university but also to impart education of international standards to people who are willing to know more about various aspects of law.
The university is also drawing up special modules for the industry sector where its executives could learn more about the foreign companies and their industrial laws.
The university is planning to have an on-campus training centre for training executives of various companies. The university will also conduct various industry-related research projects.
Another official of the varsity administration said that as part of its social obligation, the university intended to expose its students to the reality of life and assist the poor so that they knew their rights and resolved their disputes.
The university will appoint a panel of lawyers with experience ranging between 10 and 12 years to take up cases of people of the marginalised sections of the society. The students of the university will assist the lawyers in the courts. The students will be asked to take up cases pertaining to child rights, juveniles, consumer and other tribunals so that they can learn more about the realities of life. They will also receive stipend for this.
To begin with, the university will start its scheme of involving students in Puri, Cuttack and Khurda districts.
“Our plan is to integrate service with education which will help the students to have access to various case studies that will be beyond the traditional method of classroom teachings,” Nagaraj added.
The varsity is now offering joint degrees of BBA, LLB and BA, LLB, apart from an LLM degree.
Around 600 students are undergoing various undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the premier university, which started in 2009 from a rented accommodation. Now, the university has its own campus spread over 50 acres at Naraj.