National University of Juridical Sciences students stride into Harvard, Oxford

KOLKATA: It is celebration time for National University of Juridical Sciences (

NUJS

) with six of its students making it to top campuses in US and UK.

While five of them have made it to the LLM programme at

Harvard Law School

, one has been admitted to the Masters programme at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. NUJS authorities have described the achievement as rare. Present students of the fifth year, Gauri Pillai and Vasujith Ram have made it to Oxford and Harvard respectively on full scholarship. The other four are past students Pankti Vora (2015),

Varsha Bhattacharya

(2013), Pranav Mittal (2011) and

Rupavardhini Raju

(2010).

While the present two students, who will graduate this year, will continue to pursue academics after their LLB, some of the past students have worked in private law firms before deciding to pursue higher studies, said vice-chancellor Ishwar Bhat.

“We are proud of them. Vasujith has even co-authored a book with law author Marc Galanter. Gauri and Vasujith have got full scholarships, which is not easy when it comes to institutions of that level,” Bhat said.

For Gauri it is a dream come true. “To think that I have been chosen to attend one of the world’s most sought-after courses at Oxford is like a dream and that, too, on a Rhodes Scholarship. I plan to study human rights law, with focus on issues related to gender and health.”

Vasujith was apprehensive after the rigorous application process to Harvard. “But when I heard that I got through, I was overjoyed. I wish to focus on law and economics and constitutional theory at Harvard.”

The Harvard law school offers a one-year degree programme in Masters of law. A typical batch size is of 180 students this year, which will have representation from at least 70 countries.