West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, abbreviated to NUJS, and located in Salt Lake City of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is a law university meant to impart legal education at the undergraduate and post graduate levels. It was established in 1999 by the Bar Council of India and the Government of West Bengal. One of India's legal education pioneers, Prof. N. R. Madhava Menon was appointed as its First-Vice Chancellor. NUJS is one of the few independent and autonomous national law schools built on the 5 year law degree model made popular by the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. The Ex-Officio Chancellor of the University is the Chief Justice of India. The present Vice-Chancellor of the University is Prof. M.P. Singh, a renowned Constitutional law scholar. The five year integrated B.A./B.Sc. LL.B.(Hons) Degree programme is the undergraduate course offered. The post-graduate course offered at the university is the LL.M. degree. The University also offers M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. The objectives of the University inter alia are to: * Advance and disseminate learning and knowledge of law and legal processes and their role in national development * To develop in the student and research scholar a sense of responsibility to serve society by developing skills in regard to advocacy, legal service, legislation, law reforms and the like. * To promote inter-disciplinary study of law in relation to management, technology, inter national cooperation and development. Legal Studies at NUJS aim at a comprehensive learning experience, not only in traditional fields of legal education, but in contemporary cutting edge disciplines as well. The course structure is in conformity with the rules prescribed by the Bar Council of India. Prof.Menon, started the NUJS with an aim to produce "social engineers". According to him, NUJS is a law school, which attempts to transform legal education into "justice education", a concept which emphasizes on legal ethics and social responsibility of the legal profession. The NUJS campus is located on a prime land in Salt Lake City, overseeing the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. The Campus consists of an academic and three residential blocks — two seven storied halls of residence for girls and boys apiece and a double storied staff accommodation-cum-guest house. The university academic block 'Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan' is a four storied structure, comprising of 105 rooms in all with lift facility. It is an inward looking building octagonal in shape and rounded by widespread verandas that open up to the vast central courtyard with a fountain on one side. The building has host of Class rooms, a vast library with a sprawling reading room, medical facilities and an auditorium. There is a central library with each school of the University having its own specialized library. From its humble beginning on June 1,2000, the NUJS central library has taken great strides to cater to the academic needs of the undergraduate and postgraduate students and faculty, it now houses over 20,000 titles and subscribes around 109 journals. All authoritative titles are present on both Indian as well as international law. Books are acquired on not just the traditional fields of law. Emerging areas such as international trade, intellectual property, space law and admiralty & shipping law have been given special attention. Over a hundred journals and over twenty foreign publications are subscribed to covering all the traditional as well as emerging areas of law, social sciences, and allied disciplines. These include besides law, a vast range of connected subjects such as environment studies, current affairs, science, economics, and politics just to name a few. The university has also acquired back issues of all the leading case reporters and journals. In addition to books and periodicals, keeping in stride with the digital age, the library has procured 30 computers with dedicated Broadband Internet connection for research purpose. The library has enhanced its resources and databases of CDROM, which now includes Law Commission of India, SCC finder, ISID, SEBI guidelines, WTO reports etc. with the objective of eventually establishing an e-library. Such titles include case report databases, law archives and even electronic books on law. It is a matter of pride for the university that such resources have encouraged students to research comprehensively from the start. The library also keeps copies of research papers and moot court submissions of students. In order to give students and faculty more complete access to material, the NUJS library holds institutional memberships with leading libraries in the cities such as the British Council Library and the American Information Resource Center. Besides this, law students from other universities are encouraged to use the library for research and study. Admission to the hostels is done simultaneously with the admission to the University. Unless expelled for disciplinary or special reasons, students are expected to reside in the hostels for the entire duration of their course. The hostels provide reasonable amenities to the students and an atmosphere conductive to serious study, relaxation and all round development. The hostels have their own rules of discipline, which are primarily administered by the Wardens in association with students. Self-governance is encouraged for which powers are delegated to select student representatives. The hostel mess is managed by a Mess Committee formed from within the residents themselves, under the supervision of the warden. It provides hygienic food at affordable prices. Mess charges depend on actual expenses incurred per month and may vary. There is a Doctor available for consultation, visiting the hostel regularly. This apart, the University organizes medical help whenever needed through tie-ups with hospitals located in the Salt Lake area. Guest Facilities There is provision for hostel residents to accommodate guests in situations of emergency for a maximum period of two nights on permission of the Warden and payment of a guest fee. Such guests may avail of the mess facilities. The Corporation Bank, a public sector undertaking, has opened a branch inside the campus and offers doorstep-banking facilities. An ATM facility is also available inside the campus. NUJS is organised into a number of Schools of study, each independent in conception and operation, yet integrated through programmes of teaching, research and extension activities. These schools of study include: * The School of Criminal Justice and Administration * The School of Technology, Law and Development * The School of Legal Practice and Development * The School of Economic and Business Laws * The School of Social Sciences * The School of Private Laws and Comparative Jurisprudence * The School of Public Law and Governance. The Research Centres established at the University are: * The Centre for WTO * The Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Studies * The Centre for Gender and Law. The Schools and the Centres undertake regular projects which are funded by the Government of India, the Department of Economic Affairs, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Ministry of Home Affairs,the United Nations Development Programme and the Ford Foundation, among others. NUJS has had numerous honours in national and international Moot Court competitions. In 2003, NUJS became the only Indian and second Asian college to win the Willem C. Vis Moot better known as the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, held at Vienna.[2] In 2005 the University Moot team won the Willem C. Vis (East), International Commercial Arbitration Moot at Hong Kong.[3] The university Moot teams have been regularly attained finalist positions (ranking amongst the top 32 teams) in the competition, from its debut in 2003 till 2006. In 2005, NUJS also emmerged winners at the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Stetson University Law School in Gulfport, Florida, USA[4]. Over the years the NUJS team has also performed exceedingly well at the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot at Washington D.C. In fact in 2004-05, the NUJS team won the Jessup (North Zone) National Rounds and participated at the International Rounds at Washington D.C., where they proceeded to the advanced rounds. Besides the above, the University moot team has been a semi finalist at the Asia Pacific Round of the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot at Sydney, Australia. In the last two editions of the biannual Commonwealth Moot Court competition, the NUJS have won the national rounds on both occasions, earning a chance to represent India at the International rounds, and have been finalist and semifinalist at the International Rounds. In 2006, NUJS was selected to be one of the teams to represent India at the WTO Moot Court at Geneva, Switzerland and were semi-finalists in the oral rounds at the WTO Centre in Geneva. Over the years the University Team have also won the Bar Council of India Moot, M.M. Singhvi - Bar Council of India Moot at NLU Jodhpur[5], K.L.A. Moot, and many others. NUJS also participates in a number of parliamentary debates at the international level, including the World Debating Championships (Worlds) and All Asian Debating Championship (Asians). The University team has won a number of national debates, "made the break" at the Asians and ranked high at the Worlds. The students of NUJS also actively participate in a number of other extra-curricular activities like sports & dramatics. The student body of the University is known as the Student Juridical Association (SJA). The SJA has an elected President and Vice President and two administrative office bearers, the Administrative Secretary and the Treasurer. The SJA has an Executive Council which is constituted by representatives from the various Student Committees of the SJA and an elected Class Representative from each of the five batches of students. The Student Committees of the SJA are committees for encouraging, organising and playing an administrative role in extra-curricular activities within the student body. Such committees include the Moot Court Society, Cultural Committee, Literary and Debating Society, Sports Committee, etc. The University publishes its own peer reviewed law journal, Indian Journal of Juridical Sciences. While the SJA publishes a student run law journal, The Indian Juridical Review, the Student Editors being guided by a Faculty Advisor and an Editorial Advisory Board.