Call for promoting research trends among law students

While addressing the concluding session of two-day law conference at Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law (SZABUL) on Friday, Secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan stressed upon the need for inculcating and promoting trends of research and exploration amongst the law students to achieve the cherished goal for high standards of law pedagogy.

The event was jointly organised by the Szabul and the Justice Helpline. The law students, who had volunteered for the conference’s arrangements, were awarded certificates by the secretary. Justice Helpline Chairman Nadeem Shaikh, Vice Chancellor SZABUL Justice Zia Perwez, Registrar Syed Sharaf Ali Shah, Director Finance Amir Bashir and Professor GN Qureshi also spoke at the event.

Dr Awan suggested law universities and colleges throughout the country to hold competitions amongst the meritorious students involved in law research and award prizes to the winners, adding that it would instill a taste for research and exploration amongst the students.

He said there was a dire need to groom and train experts in international arbitration laws as Pakistan had a naught representation in the International Bar Association. Earlier, the vice chancellor said an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani students, who hailed from the lower middle and the upper middle class families, who could not afford the expenditures of a foreign university degree.

A graduation degree from a UK varsity, he said, costs more than £100,000. On the other hand, the degrees earned through distance learning programmes of different foreign universities were not recognised by the Pakistan Bar Council.

Perwez said that the Szabul had entered an academic partnership agreement with the University of Northampton (UoN) for collaboration in higher education. Under the program, that is likely to be launched by end of the current year, the Pakistani students would get a regular foreign degree for a nominal fee of £2300. Against the fee, he said, the students would receive one-year education in the UK.

He said a delegation of the UoN, headed by its vice chancellor and dean of foreign partnerships, would arrive in Pakistan on August 19 to hold a four-day training workshop for the teaching and administrative staff of the Szabul.

He paid rich tributes to former vice chancellor of the Szabul, Justice Qazi Khalid Ali, who not only established the first law university in the country but also played a key role in striking a deal with the UoN for promotion of higher education.

Justice Zia said the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Law had asked the varsity to hold a conference on Arbitration laws, and the law students from all over the country would be invited to attend the conference. This conference, he said, would promote the interest of the students in international arbitration.