ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) told the representatives of some law colleges on Saturday that after 2018 the council would not accredit those institutions which failed to switch to the five-year Legum Baccalaureus (LLB) course.

“We have categorically told the representatives of the law colleges that PBC will close such institutions by force if they failed to switch to five-year legal course instead of the existing three years or did not improve the quality of educational standards in their colleges,” Chairman of PBC’s Legal Education Committee Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen said while talking to Dawn.

Under the newly promulgated PBC Legal Education Rules, 2015, and the PBC (Recognition of Universities) Rules, 2015, on the affiliation of law colleges, the three-year study programme will be discontinued in next three years while the evening classes will be abolished and distance learning programmes regulated.

Law colleges asked to switch to five-year course instead of three years and improve the quality of educational standards

On Saturday, Mr Shaheen presided over a meeting attended by representatives of 19 different law colleges, including Director General of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Mohammad Raza Chohan to discuss how to stop the deteriorating quality of legal education.

He apprised the participants about the concern over the deteriorating standard and quality of legal education because of rapid growth of private law colleges and even universities in the private sector.

The participants agreed that the implementation of rules would discourage sub-standard private colleges and would substantially contribute to ensuring quality legal education.

According to the standards developed by the PBC, Mr Shaheen said, the law colleges should be opened in a spacious four-kanal land having spacious classrooms with internet facility and library which should be upgraded constantly.

The faculty should be based on permanent teachers instead of visiting professors. The faculty should comprise competent teachers and the students they enrol must have good passing marks in earlier educational pursuits.

The representatives of the law colleges urged the committee to develop a centralised system of inspecting colleges and not to force them to have 35 students per college.

On Jan 24, the PBC had written a letter to the registrars of all universities and law colleges about the new law. The rules state that the number of students admitted to first year must not exceed 100. Only morning sessions will be permitted and evening classes have been disallowed.

Under the new rules, universities or law colleges intending to impart legal education at the postgraduate level, i.e. LLM or PhD, will have to seek permission or approval from both the PBC and the HEC.

Institutions already offering LLM/PhD programmes will have to seek approval of their syllabus from the PBC and HEC within six months of the promulgation of these rules.

According to new rules, no university or degree-awarding institution will affiliate any law college after the enforcement of these rules.

Degree-awarding institutions imparting legal education will certify and inform the PBC at the start of every academic year that each and every private law college affiliated with them is implementing and adhering to these rules in letter and spirit, the letter said.

No institution will be allowed to impart legal education under international/external/distance learning programme of any foreign university without first obtaining a no-objection certificate from the council. Those already doing so will have to obtain the no-objection certificate within six months.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2016