‘WE MIGHT TAKE A CLUSTER UNIVERSITY APPROACH'

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru doesn’t need a change in law or court cases to become more diverse, said Vice Chancellor, Sudhir Krishnaswamy. He spoke to Careers360 about how NLSIU, caught in a court case related to reservation of 25% seats for Karnataka students, is working on a system to make it more diverse; expanding to accommodate more students and courses; exploring collaborations with other state universities; and planning to raise funds from alumni.

- Abhay Anand

Q. How does NLSIU look at the issue of state quotas in the NLUs? Karnataka Government’s attempt to introduce one is stuck in court.

A. The case related to NLSIU is sub-judice so I am not in a position to say anything. However, to talk about NLUs in general, all the NLUs are different from each other academically, legally and with respect to pedagogy. What they share is a common name. As far as the domicile reservation is concerned, it depends on the state where they are operating, as well as the statutes of that state.

Q. Students and alumni argue that introducing state reservation dilutes the NLUs’ national character. Do you agree?

A. I have no doubt about that. But the NLUs were developed on a highly successful model of education. So, there is no surprise that every social group wants to be a part of that success. As a national institution, we would like to be the most diverse institution we can be by achieving all our educational goals. We don’t see any contradiction between the two and we will work very actively to put in place a system that allows for this diverse representation. We are already working on this and we do not need court cases or legislation to push in this direction. In any case, we are committed.

Q. The National Education Policy suggests making all standalone institutions multidisciplinary. Are the NLUs working on this?