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Accessibility and Inclusivity at National Law School
Institutional support and awareness of the diversity of their student intake by institutions of higher education, particularly when we have affirmative action policies in place, is essential to reduce the influence of students’ background on their performance. A socio-economic census conducted at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, covering 97.9% of the student body, presents the details about inclusivity and accessibility at the country’s premier law institute by analysing the correlations between background factors and performance.
The National Law School of India University (NLS), Bengaluru, is widely hailed as the premier law institute of the country and has been a harbinger of change in law education. Established through the Karnataka Act 22 of 1986 by Madhava Menon, a professor, with the backing of the Bar Council of India, it was the first of its kind five-year law college. Described as “an island of excellence in a vast sea of institutional mediocrity” by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in reference to the state of legal education, today the NLS model has been replicated by several states, with nearly 16 such universities now in existence.
These universities, generally known as the National Law Universities (NLUs), are unique higher education institutions for several reasons, but one major reason is their astonishingly low student intake. While they are “universities” for all purposes, their intake of students every year is far lesser than the intake of a single college under the Delhi University. NLS, for instance, admits only 80 students a year.
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