Empowering Legal Leaders: Commitment to Innovative Education and Inclusivity at School of Law, RV University

In an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, Prof. (Dr.) Y.S.R. Murthy says School of Law, RV University embodies a dynamic blend of expertise and dedication, committed to delivering a premier legal education. With a wealth of experience garnered from prestigious institutions worldwide, RV faculty members are steadfast in their pursuit of innovative teaching methodologies to groom the legal leaders of tomorrow. 

Prof. (Dr.) Y.S.R. Murthy assumed charge as the First Vice Chancellor of RV University, Bangalore recently. As a former civil servant from the 1985 batch of IAS and Allied Services, he held many responsible and sensitive assignments including in the National Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Secretariat and Cabinet Secretariat.

• How is the faculty at School of Law, RV University? What initiatives does the university take to upskill the faculty so that they can deliver better?

A: The Faculty at the School of Law, RV University comprises a diverse group of supremely talented individuals, oriented towards providing a world-class education to students seeking to pursue a career in law. With a perfect blend of youth and experience, the faculty at the School of Law have a background in providing a quality legal education that provides a global perspective on questions of law, having pursued advanced degrees in law from renowned educational institutions from both India and abroad. They seek to use their educational expertise and practical experience to  implement innovative teaching pedagogies in the process of training the next generation of legal professionals. 

As regards the process of upskilling the faculty at the School of Law, we regularly conduct faculty development programmes and workshops in an effort to provide them with an opportunity to interact with scholars and academics of repute from all over the world and benefit from their experiences and perspectives on educating the next generation of legal practitioners. Additionally, we strongly encourage our faculty to attend conferences, seminars and workshops that are specifically in their chosen field of study in order to have them engage with other like-minded individuals and stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their respective areas of expertise.

• What are the internship and placement prospects at School of Law, RV University? Has the university collaborated with top giants in the industry?

As a University, we have been operational for three years now, and the School of Law specifically is in its first year of operations. Despite being in its infancy, we have now established approximately 200 collaborations with various types of institutions and organizations, ranging from highly rated foreign universities, established Non-Governmental Organizations, reputed Law Firms, Policy & Research institutions among others. These collaborations are oriented towards providing our students with an opportunity to work with and learn from the best of the best when it comes to the practical application of the various courses that we teach them during their time with us at the School of Law. We also have several professionals from our collaboration partners who are teaching courses at the School of Law, especially for certain courses and subject where an emphasis on the practical considerations could aid in augmenting a student’s understanding of the subject. An example of such a situtation is where we have a registered Chartered Accountant teaching our BBA LLB students financial accounting,

• What steps have been taken to make students industry-ready? Apart from classroom teaching, what are the other initiatives the university has taken to give overall exposure to students?

Getting students industry-ready is not something that can be done overnight. The demands of the industry are also evolving with each passing day. It is for this reason that we seek to keep them engaged with members of the industry on a regular basis, either in the capacity of a course instructor, or through regular guest lectures and seminars. The students of today are going to be the workforce of tomorrow. Aiding our students to know who they will be working for and working with once they graduate is as important as giving their potential employers an opportunity to engage with them from a very early stage.

In addition to the engagement and exposure to the industry, we as an institution also seek to engage with our industry partners through our various collaborations in an effort to keep abreast with the requirements of the industry. We work to create opportunities for our students to intern with legal professionals from various sectors while they pursue their legal education with us. We also work with our industry partners to help us constantly update our course structures and content in an effort to prepare our students to be effective contributors to the industry post graduation. 

• What do you do to foster diversity and inclusivity in your department and on campus?

Diversity is one of the pillars on which RV University is built. It is a matter of great pride for us that a majority of our students, staff and faculty are women. We seek to provide a safe space for all the members of our RVU family regardless of their social, economic, cultural, religious, sexual or ethnic background. We truly believe that inclusivity is a way of life that we must inculcate in all our students on a day-to-day basis. We strive every day to ensure that nothing about a student’s identity in any way serves as a barrier to their growth and development during their time with us. In a world where people are being divided on the basis of every criteria imaginable, we at RVU seek to swim against the tide and serve as a reminder that what unites us far outweighs that which divides us. 

In addition to providing academic scholarships to those in need of financial assistance, we also foster a culture of inclusivity in the conduct of classes in the School of Law. We ensure that we sensitize our faculty and staff to their various internal and subconscious biases so that they may take the necessary steps to address them for themselves as well as during the course of their engagements with each other as well as the students at the University. 

• Does the School of Law, RV University have a well-equipped moot-court and legal aid centre?

We do have state-of-the-art moot court halls as well as a fully equipped legal aid centre at the University. As we expand and have more students in the coming years, we hold to further augment the facilities available in these spaces so as to ensure that they can cater to the needs of the student community at the School of Law. 

• What are the teaching methodologies that your college is currently following? Do these technologies resemble new-age teaching technologies?

I believe there is no singular teaching methodology that is tuned to address the needs of students in the legal education space. The need of the hour is to constantly keep developing, innovating and evolving teaching methodologies that can keep pace with the students and their needs. Where some courses might be best served by utilizing the traditional lecture format, others might be best communicated using more of an interactive or an experiential pedagogy.  At the School of Law, RV University, we try to create teaching methodologies that are specifically tailored to the nature of the course.

There is most certainly a need to incorporate technology into the classrooms in order to create a more interactive learning experience for our students. At RVU, we use smart boards and the associated AV equipment in all our classrooms. We are always trying to adopt the latest available technologies in our classrooms to optimize time and efficiently use the resources at our disposal. 

• Does the university arrange guest lectures and interactive sessions for the Law students? Who are the eminent Law personalities that have visited the university so far?

We arrange guest lectures and interactive sessions for our students at the School of Law on a regular basis. Over the course of the last year alone, we have had several eminent personalities take guest lectures at RV University. These include Hon’ble Justice R. V. Raveendran, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar, Former Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka, Mr. R Venkataramani, the former Attorney General of India, Mr. Dhyanehwar Mulay, Member, National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Ashwini K. P., UN Special Rapporteur for Contemporary Forms of Racism, among others. We also hosted several academics and scholars from other institutions from India and abroad as part of an initiative to expose our students to a global perspective on the issues that they discuss and deliberate upon in their classrooms. 

• Does the School of Law, RV University offer scholarship and financial assistance to students?

School of Law, RV University does offer scholarships and financial assistance to students every year. The scheme for the offer of scholarships is available on our website in detail for the ready reference of potential students. The link is here - https://rvu.edu.in/scholarships/#law