Then NLSIU VC Venkata Rao: "For years, they have been saying the National Law School is a Harvard of the East but our vision is to make people call Harvard the Bangalore of the West."
Ajay Gudavarthy (JNU prof and ex-NLSIU/NUJS prof) in the Wire: "Menon transformed the situation in a rather dramatic fashion within a decade to create NLSIU in Bangalore, which was routinely referred to as the ‘Harvard of the East’."
My question is simple: Everyone says that NLSIU has always been referred to as the "Harvard of the East", but who exactly coined the nickname and when? Who is "they" that Rao is referring to? Also, does "East" mean all of Asia? If yes, is NLSIU regarded as superior to colleges from rich Asian countries like China, Japan, Singapore, HK, South Korea and Taiwan, which are ranked highly in QS? Or does "East" refer to India and NIRF rankings only?
It is blasphemous to even compare NLSIU with even some good Asian University like NUS and Peking.
Harvard attracts students from across the entire world. NUS attracts people from entire Asia. NLSIU? ZILCH.
Research? Faculty? Don't get me started.
Faculty standards have been improved recently thou.
Apart from it's own graduates abroad- go anywhere else and people won't know what is NLSIU. Go to any international business center - people will think that it's a third rate law college unless you take an hour and mansplain about the greatness of NLS - Which will again make you look like MLM Fraud Marketing guys.
i work for a magic circle and am from NLS, truth be told, no one in my family gives a damn and it's not that the average human should know about the MC and NLS, it's irrelevant and I have 0 expectations from anyone regarding this. If it's not the FAANG or Ivy or IITs or IIMs , it just doesn't make sense to flex because everything else is the same.
for real, i cant stop laughing at these "harvard of the east" BS peddlers. People leave countries to go to Harvard and other reputed ivy league institutions. People don't even leave their home towns 200 kms apart to go to NLSIU lmao
Your logic is all wrong. You claim Peking and NUS are better than NLSIU and nobody heard of NLSIU at "any international business center". But how may execs and lawyers in London/NY/Paris/Frankfurt are familiar with Peking and NUS? Even fewer than those who heard of NLSIU!! They heard of Peking duck maybe, but not Peking University. But more people there will know that Bangalore is the IT capital of India and NLSIU is a top law school there.
Err...sorry to burst your bubble, but most people in the industry all over the world have heard of NUS and the latter actually has got global domain experts as faculty. In your zeal to defend the dubious honour of NLSIU, you seem to have lost track of reality. In addition, you are right about Bangalore's reputation, and that's the only part of the NLSIU Bangalore's name that most foreign academics and industry experts can recognise.
Maybe Law School is not comparable to Harvard, but among Asian universities it has certainly outperformed NUS, HKU, Peking etc, in areas like Rhodes scholarships, Jessup moot wins, Magic Circle offers, professorships at Oxford etc. Also, let us remember that China, Singapore and Hong Kong are dictatorships, not democracies. That by itself should disqualify them from being considered as a Harvard of the East.
Please read comment 3. It wrongly claimed that NLS has won Jessup more than NUS. Not more than Harvard. But more than NUS. That is what I rebutted as 3.1.
Then you come along as 3.2, fail to read 3 and try to rebut 3.1. Context is very important my friend.
Yes, NLS has more Jessup wins than Harvard. I agree. But not more than NUS.
That's because NUS is a better deal for professors than Oxford, all told. Only someone who is able to be completely indifferent to salary and research grants would leave it to teach in the UK. Singapore in general is high income and low tax. It's not like leaving Bombay for London.
Then NLSIU VC Venkata Rao: "For years, they have been saying the National Law School is a Harvard of the East but our vision is to make people call Harvard the Bangalore of the West."
I'm from NLS, and studied there in the 90s. Even then, we students used the term "Harvard of the East" in extreme irony (e.g., "How's today's mess food?" "Usual Harvard of the East fare"). If anyone used that term seriously with us, we'd roll our eyes.
Law School is known as Harvard of the East not because it is a clone of Harvard but because it was conceived to counter the Western model of education. It is only after the woke movement that Western universities have become aware of the need for holistic education, but Law School thought of it since inception. Hence, "Harvard of the East".
Also, NUS might be well-known but no one has heard of Peking University. Honestly, have you ever heard of anyone doing an LLM from Peking University?? Please, it sucks.
Again, it is not known as such other than to people associated with it. And counter the western model of education? Lol! It seems that it is again regressing then back to the same model, having reintroduced 3-Year LLB.
It was originally called “Dharwad of the East” because Bangalore was to the east of Dharwad. This was by a professor who joined NLS from a college in Dharwad. “Dharwad” was mistaken to mean “Da Harwad” which became “The Harvard” of the east.
On a serious note, I think this craving for appellations of this nature is a typically Indian fixation. In that sense, NLS and its cheerleaders are not the first. Allahabad University, at one point, was referred to as the "Oxford of the East", and in the past few decades Pune has claimed to be so.
Well, we all know what is the present standard of the Allahabad University and the universities/colleges in Pune. This should be a lesson for NLS. Getting too fixated with a tagline might just be the sure-shot road to perdition.
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/india/best-colleges/story/20090622-indias-best-law-colleges-739990-2009-06-10
Ajay Gudavarthy (JNU prof and ex-NLSIU/NUJS prof) in the Wire: "Menon transformed the situation in a rather dramatic fashion within a decade to create NLSIU in Bangalore, which was routinely referred to as the ‘Harvard of the East’."
https://thewire.in/law/obituary-n-r-madhava-menon-legal-luminary-conservative-humanist
My question is simple: Everyone says that NLSIU has always been referred to as the "Harvard of the East", but who exactly coined the nickname and when? Who is "they" that Rao is referring to? Also, does "East" mean all of Asia? If yes, is NLSIU regarded as superior to colleges from rich Asian countries like China, Japan, Singapore, HK, South Korea and Taiwan, which are ranked highly in QS? Or does "East" refer to India and NIRF rankings only?
NLSIU as the Harvard of East?
It is blasphemous to even compare NLSIU with even some good Asian University like NUS and Peking.
Harvard attracts students from across the entire world. NUS attracts people from entire Asia. NLSIU? ZILCH.
Research? Faculty? Don't get me started.
Faculty standards have been improved recently thou.
Apart from it's own graduates abroad- go anywhere else and people won't know what is NLSIU. Go to any international business center - people will think that it's a third rate law college unless you take an hour and mansplain about the greatness of NLS - Which will again make you look like MLM Fraud Marketing guys.
NLS has more Rhodes than Peking because latter isn’t part of the commonwealth.
Then you come along as 3.2, fail to read 3 and try to rebut 3.1. Context is very important my friend.
Yes, NLS has more Jessup wins than Harvard. I agree. But not more than NUS.
Also, NUS might be well-known but no one has heard of Peking University. Honestly, have you ever heard of anyone doing an LLM from Peking University?? Please, it sucks.
NLS as the Harvard of the East
NUJS as the Yale of the East.
One was supposed to be a school of law and another of 'juridical sciences'. Both were supposed to develop two different schools of thought, literally.
An irony where they are now.
Well, we all know what is the present standard of the Allahabad University and the universities/colleges in Pune. This should be a lesson for NLS. Getting too fixated with a tagline might just be the sure-shot road to perdition.