On the face of it, this is not a fair summary since in the last few years NLSIU has been hiring a sizeable number of faculty from disciplines other than law and has been in the process of becoming a multi-disciplinary institution. The diversity of disciplines, the introduction of new academic programmes like M.P.P., and most recently B.A. Honours, should ideally create a more interesting intellectual landscape for current and future students. One can debate whether this project, which is still very much in its early stages, is succeeding or not, but it would be altogether unreasonable to simply ignore it and dismiss an institution as a state university, which every NLU, including NLSIU, is; no shame in that, by the way.

Now it is a valid concern that institutions like NLUs, founded and run with a specific vocational focus may not offer the same depth and breadth of research as other full-fledged central, state, or deemed-to-be universities. But in their own way, they can allow would-be scholars with particular interests at the intersection of law and the wider social sciences to pursue their research interests that would often be dismissed in other universities for not being sufficiently rooted in a specific discipline.

As a general advice, before applying to any institution, one should always go through its faculty and their work to get a sense of whether what they want to do can actually be done in that particular institutional context. This matters in every discipline, including law.

Yes.

(1) Ph.D. admission in ‘Law‘ and ‘Social Sciences, Humanities and Public Policy’ are currently open at NLSIU. See the notification at << https://www.nls.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Notification-PhD.pdf >>

Last date to apply is 23 February 2025.

From this year, they have also introduced their own doctoral fellowship amounting to 50,000 INR.

(2) Ph.D. admission in ‘Law’ at RPNLU will open on 1 June 2025. See the notice at << https://www.rpnlup.ac.in/rpnlup-introduces-ph-d-in-law/ >>

IMPORTANT: Please note that every NLU has its own academic calendar according to which it admits Ph.D. applications during the year. As a result, unlike in B.A.L.L.B. admissions, there is no single timeline for Ph.D. admissions in NLUs. For instance, the last date for NLU Delhi’s 2025 Ph.D. admissions has already passed. You will be well advised to regularly check the individual NLU websites for the same.

Hope this helps.

With regard to NLSIU, please note the following figures (based on data received through RTI) for admission to its Ph.D. programme in the academic year of 2024–2025.

Number of Ph.D. vacancies (Law + Inter-disciplinary) = 4 + 4 (as mentioned in the notification at https://www.nls.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Admissions-Notification-Research-Degree-Programme-2024-25.pdf)

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Law = 83

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Law who appeared in NLSAT-PhD = 70

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Law who qualified for oral presentation = 3

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Law who were selected for admission = 1

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Inter-disciplinary = 42

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Inter-disciplinary who appeared in NLSAT-PhD = 38

Number of Ph.D. applicants in Inter-disciplinary who qualified for oral presentation = 12

Number of Ph.D. applicants who were selected for admission = 2

Hope this helps.

Your concerns are valid. And all one can say, without casting aspersions at the people in NLSIU, is that the paper is meant to test your critical thinking. The ideal way to prepare for this is to not rely solely on facts and theories but to also write in a way that is clear and analytical.

Yet despite all that, there is an element of luck that comes into play. Questions with subjects entirely unfamiliar to you may still come up. And the timespan of the written test does not provide you the luxury to rest for more than a few minutes before you try to change your strategy. You have to simply start from anywhere in the paper and anyhow.

Now add in the cost and duration of NLSIU’s admission process and it can be extremely frustrating for even the most promising candidates. It is also worth reflecting that they ask you to upload a research proposal at the stage of applying itself and then use the written test to short-list which makes very little sense given that only 125 people even applied in 2024 for Ph.D. admission at NLSIU. Having Junior Research Fellowship in Law and other social science disciplines does not exempt you from the written test either.

Can NLSIU improve their admission process? Yes. But that is something beyond our control here. In this respect, even NLSIU is not very different in its bureaucratic inertia than other universities in India. To repeat after Henry, “And there was nothing we could do about it.”