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As far as how the nickname originated, as a general expression "Harvard of the East" has historically been used often to describe many universities in many contexts. For example, in 1972, the title of a book on Moscow Lomonosov University described it as the "Harvard of the East". Obviously, here East meant anything East of the Berlin Wall.
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Andreas-Hrsg-F%C3%B6rster/dp/B0025WIAR6
Similarly, there are old articles referring to NUS Singapore and Peking University in China as the "Harvard of the East".
In Prof Madhava Menon's autobiography, he says that "Harvard of the East" was a kind of USP/marketing pitch used to get NLSIU started and to get bigwigs to support it.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Wl19pPHgIy4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA47&dq=%22harvard+of+the+east%22&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
As for how the nickname became mainstreamed, my research points to an India Today issue in 1998, when NLSIU was around 11 years old. This was the first-ever India Today issue ranking law schools. The issue says: "No wonder the school can claim to be the Harvard of the East."
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/education/story/19980706-best-law-colleges-in-india-nlsiu-bangalore-remains-no-828058-1998-07-05
Most likely the nickname was fed to India Today by an over-enthusiastic faculty member/admin at NLSIU and the magazine copied it blindly. I'm told that India Today was hugely influential in the 90s, as there weren't too many 24x7 news channels and websites around back then. So this was probably the start of how this nickname became popular.
Subsequently, the India Today college ranking issues reproduced the nickname as follows:
1999: "Our own Harvard of the east, this law institute despite its small history (only 12 years) has a very large reputation"
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/education/story/19990614-india-today-gallup-mba-poll-identifies-centres-of-excellence-in-india-781133-1999-06-13
2000: "Called the Harvard of the East, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) was established by an Act - Karnataka Act 22 of 1986 - under the sponsorship of the Bar Council of India."
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20000619-best-law-colleges-in-india-nlsiu-bangalore-remains-no-779775-2000-06-18
2001: "Cliches such as the "Harvard of the East" abound for the 14-year-old National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore."
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20010521-nlsiu-has-emerged-as-the-leading-indian-institution-for-legal-education-776158-2001-05-20
You may also look at this article by star alum Ashotosh Salil (IAS officer) from the 2006 batch, who says: "There was a piece about the National law School (NLS), Bengaluru calling it the “Harvard of the East.” NLS was also ranked as the number one law school in the country. "
He's very obviously pointing to the old India Today rankings issues.
https://www.outlookindia.com/national/law-diary-magazine-299011
So it looks like the India Today late 90s/early 2000s issues cemented this nickname and it continued. Now, you may say that it was wrong of the college to have fed India Today the nickname (if that was the case) but the media is expected to be neutral in its assessment and not blindly reproduce things. Also, in fairness, all young colleges (and NLSIU was young then) try to fake it before they make it. Best example is JGLS, which is now in the QS rankings through marketing wizardry. I could also argue that Ranbir Singh was a million times more shameless while promoting NALSAR and NLUD.
But the best quote on "Harvard of the East" is by good old Venky, who said:
"National Law School is a Harvard of the East but our vision is to make people call Harvard the Bangalore of the West.""
😀
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/india/best-colleges/story/20090622-indias-best-law-colleges-739990-2009-06-10
But that being said, NLS and more importantly, their founder, Dr. Menon, did revamp the worth of a law degree in India and did inspire other top law schools like NALSAR, NLUD and NUJS. However, thanks to Messiah’s rash decisions and fair competition from the other top 5-6 NLUs, the place’s quality is going to decline in future thanks to the ballooning batches. There’s only so much that current students can ride on the coat tails of the achievements of older batches.
Is it really Harvard of the East? No, most people outside would hardly have heard of it compared to NUS or Peking or Tokyo. Harvard of Indian law schools, maybe, but they haven’t been able to even rank ahead of JGLS in the QS, so even that title seems questionable.
So I think the "Harvard of the East" title is justified. NLSIU definitely lags Harvard in the quality of hostels and building infrastructure. I accept that. But it's comparable in terms of student achievement and quality of education.
Indians do integrate better in Western systems because of English and also common law. But the Chinese universities are much more international and the economies of all the countries you name are much more interesting to people from around the world.
Coming back to the topic, NLSIU benefited by being the only NLU in town for 10 years and a supportive mainstream media which bought the Harvard of the East pitch. No other NLU will ever get this advantage, but they can try and use online media to improve their reputation. For example, I know that the Ken article on JGLS got good traction. Similarly, favourable publicity in the The Wire can help NALSAR, NLUD etc.
Now, brace yourself for an unsolicited tale that serves no other purpose than to dredge up poignant memories and to provide the occasional chuckle. A tale that ends, as all good things do, in the pitch-dark humor of life's absurdities.
Once upon a time in the bustling bylanes of North Delhi (Mukherjee Nagar), I found myself beguiled by a captivating woman completing her Master's in Economics at Delhi School of Economics (DSE). It was a time of passion and academia, a time when I, too, was in Delhi under the guise of an internship. The internship was merely an excuse and thanks to my unparalleled talent for crafting excuses at work, life was beautiful with impromptu dates with this magnetic lady. Our limited resources ensured that the DSE canteen (sometimes Kamla Nagar market) became our social hub—a quirky combination of Café Coffee Day, Nirula's, and Connaught Place, all combined into one quaint establishment. Our gastronomic pinnacle? The budget-friendly 'Mutton-Dosas,' which fueled both our love and malnutrition.
During one of our many nostalgic walks, she pointed out an enigmatic gate adorned with Gothic motifs—forever locked and corroded by time. A shortcut to DSE, its perpetual closure made no sense to me. My inquiry triggered another life lesson from the one who would eventually slip through my fingers. According to the legends passed down by her professors, this "Gate to Nobel" would only swing open to welcome back a DSE alumnus graced with a Nobel Prize in Economics. Ah, a closed gate with grand aspirations—much like the two of us.
Time, that cunning sculptor, eventually carved canyons between our paths. We became two strangers bound only by the fragile threads of memories. A few years later, fate led me back to Delhi for work—a voyage that stretched into a reminiscing weekend. And there it was—the still-locked gate, now sporting a fresh coat of silver paint. Perhaps applied with a touch of desperate optimism, it waited for the day it could welcome home a laureate adorned with Swedish gold.
So you see, DSE remains a sanctuary for the study of economics in India. As for the other departments, I wouldn't venture a guess. But what I can vouch for is that the gate, like many of us, stands waiting—frozen in anticipatory glory, serving as a darkly humorous monument to life's grand plans and harsh realities.
Speaking of 1998, HotE was used in full seriousness (by the college administration) and as a colossal joke (by the students) even earlier than that.
"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."