The University of the West Indies has responded to concerns raised by Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham, who said last week he was “deeply troubled” with the quality of courses being offered to law students at the Cave Hill Campus.
Giving “a hard-nosed report on what is happening up on the hill”, the Chief Justice pointed out that many potential lawyers were electing to take “soft” courses and avoid the harder ones that would, he explained, make them more effective at the Bar.
He said this was troubling “for the future development of the country”.
The UWI issued a statement on Saturday, saying that while a core curriculum of compulsory or mandatory courses remains in place for two thirds of their three years of study, students’ choices nowadays include a range of modern law topics befitting study by a 21st century law graduate. These include, but are not limited to, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Global Health Law, Competition Law and Policy, Public Law, Caribbean Integration Law, International Commercial Arbitration among others.
Below is the complete statement from the university:
The Faculty of Law at The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill has taken note of comments in the weekend press alluding to the diminished quality of its recent graduates as a result of the proffer of “soft option” courses. The courses so described were not identified.
In the earliest days of the faculty’s 54-year existence, students reading for a law degree at The UWI Cave Hill were offered what by today’s standards of global legal education, was a limited curriculum with narrow course options. Student options are much broader today.
While a core curriculum of compulsory or mandatory courses remains in place for two thirds of their three years of study, students’ choices nowadays include a range of modern law topics befitting study by a 21st century law graduate. These include, but are not limited to, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Global Health Law, Competition Law and Policy, Public Law, Caribbean Integration Law, International Commercial Arbitration among others.
It is our considered opinion that these are rigorous areas of study which are in keeping with modern legal education. None can be considered a soft option and none of these options were available to graduates who entered and exited law school decades ago. With respect to the now optional Law of Trust course, work has started on rebranding and renaming this for mandatory taking on account of its significance to legal practice.
The Faculty of Law at Cave Hill, the region’s longest serving, boasts a rich tradition of excellence. It has a solid tradition of legal research and has the most extensive repository of legal resources in the Region.
As it continues its mandate to prepare the legal profession for a diversity of roles across the region and beyond, The University of the West Indies gives an assurance that it has in place a rigorous evaluation process of its academic offerings. Quality assurance in higher education is a regulated process that follows international standards. The UWI Cave Hill’s degree programmes are assured through a dedicated Quality Assurance Unit, which coordinates regular Quality Assurance Reviews. Such reviews are externally led but include a senior employer’s representative. At the last Quality Assurance Review of the LLB, Mr Patterson Cheltenham QC (now Chief Justice, Sir Patterson Cheltenham) was the representative from the legal profession.
To date, there have been four quality assessment reviews of the Faculty of Law, the last of which took place in 2015 with the three-member review team comprising Professor William Flanagan, (then) Dean, Faculty of Law, Queens’s University, Canada; Professor Gilbert Kodilinye, Professor of Property Law, UWI, Mona; and the current Chief Justice who was, at the time, a practicing attorney. A fifth review process is set to get under way next month.
The UWI pledges that it takes the matter of quality assurance of its academic offerings and general pedagogical practices with the utmost seriousness. In this regard, it welcomes input from various stakeholders under appropriate circumstances, including professional bodies which benefit from its educational output.
