“And we all know how that 1 is selected. So not worth going through the rigour, only to be rejected cause you didn't have the "quality" they want. And even after that, your PhD submission to be withheld for "quality" reasons. It's an opaque process.”

How do you all this, oh wise one? Please enlighten the rest of us.

Dear fellow. If you go looking for a strawman, you will always find one. But, at the very least, you can do others the courtesy of reading their words before accusing them of “glazing” something. All I did was answer the question raised in the previous comment while offering my own perspective (speculative but based on certain facts) on the apparent difference between PhD vacancies advertised and filled at NLSIU. I do not claim to be definitive on the matter and neither can you for it requires us to have facts that only NLSIU has. And my own experience with NLSIU is that they do not prefer to share as much information as a public institution like them ought to. As for the RTI, sure, feel free to think what you already do. I only answered that point because I found it amusing to have the data that I received from my RTI application metaphorically shoved at my digital face.

Now to come to the more serious of your contestations. I see little basis for comparing the situation in one university with another, especially between those that operate at such different scales. Compared to DU, NLSIU is, in every single respect, a smaller institute. Fewer students, fewer teachers, fewer programmes, and yes, fewer PhD vacancies. Can the same be true in ensuring fewer applicants? I do not know. But it is worth considering that in a country the size of India, distance between one’s home and their prospective university can and does play a role in where they are able to apply. It may seem surprising but traveling far for education/work can generate expenses and anxieties that not every one can easily overcome.

Curiously enough, NLSIU has not enabled reservation in its PhD admission. I am not sure whether and how this is permissible but I am hoping there will be more discussion on this.

As for the comparison with CSLG/CILS in JNU, again, it is a question of institutional autonomy. I am myself surprised that NLSIU, a state university, has more autonomy than JNU, a central university, in deciding how many vacancies to fill. Now what can we learn from CSLG/CILS filling in more seats than NLSIU? That CSLG/CILS is better? That CSLG/CILS is producing great research? Or that NLSIU is more discerning? That NLSIU aims for quality over quantity? None of these, either for or against one of them, can be directly inferred from PhD admission data. Any such assessment would require a more careful analysis of student/faculty research output and that is beyond the scope of this conversation.

But, then again, filling seats is only part of the story. There is also the little matter of actually doing original research that can stand the scrutiny of one’s intellectual community. Few will dispute (and fewer still among the university teachers) that the quality of research in social sciences (including law) in India is really quite abysmal. For sure, much is produced but little is contributed to the public and academic discourse. There are many reasons for this and the quality of students is only one of them. I am myself not interested in blaming students alone for this ongoing scholastic tragedy.

Finally, you find it “hard to believe” that NLSIU could only find one suitable candidate in law last year; evidently, NLSIU does not. In the absence of other relevant facts, one really cannot say which one of you is less hard to believe.

Hi. While I do agree with you, I would add that for a university that was founded in 1986, NLSIU should have been ahead of the curve here. 4 seats in law is disproportionate with the strength of their teaching faculty. I have already mentioned in my other comment here that a career in academia is something a majority of students of law appear to be interested in. That fact does allow NLSIU to be off the hook, but only partially. For it cannot be denied that not only NLSIU took an awfully long time to focus on legal research and towards developing a sell-funded doctoral programme, it also never really considered legal research as part of its institutional mission. Arguably, other NLUs, especially the older ones, are also guilty of this intellectual myopia. Research matters because ideas/concepts matter, and because every judicial prononucement and our own quotidian sensibilities of what is common-sensical relies on a certain understadning of those concepts. The kind of jurisprudence and political discourse that prevails in India cannot be reformed until it receives a well-argued critique. The failure to privilege research as a core part of institutional identity is one aspect in which, for once unfortunately, NLUs are all too similar with other so-called elite institutions in India, like IITs and IIMs.

This excuse of "lack of interest" in academia is absolutely false and misleading. DU recently received 650 applications for PhD. All of them either NET/JRF. So, people saying there's lack of interest is absolutely false. Also, everyone is well aware that preference will be given to alumni. Moreover, NLS is not even elite in India, let alone the World. You guys glaze too much. Let's be honest, in foreign universities atleast the selection is open where you definitely have to speak to advisors beforehand and get their permission to apply. Here you apply, pay, work hard and then find out you aren't selected cause you didn't 'speak' to the 'right' faculty.

Absolutely incorrect.

First, stop glazing NLS.

Second, just because you "claim" to have filed the RTI, there's no way to prove it was actually you.

Third, recently DU had their PhD interviews, do you know how many people applied ? 650 ! And even these were JRF/NET qualified. So, If people are not applying to NLS. NLS seems to be the problem.

Fourth, JNU has two departments, the law & governance one, and the international legal studies one. Both, received around 100-150 applicants this year, JRF only for the law & governance, and in return, they filled out their complete vacancy. NLS not even filling the remaining 3 seats is laughable. And don't tell me it's because of "quality". I find it hard to believe that NLS couldn't even manage to find 3 quality aspirants who appeared in the interview ? There are people with significant work experience in legal research, people who have done clerkships with SC judges, people who have even done their masters from oxbridge and not selected just cause they didn't have any inside pull.

So, the clear fact remains. NLS is gatekeeping PhD in their institute, on the basis of false "quality" control. Btw, if you remember there have already been reports of the higher ups sitting on already completed PhD thesis.

83 candidates and can only manage to select 1.. that's too hard a pill to swallow.. even for Harvard Law.

The only numbers which are surprising are 83 and 70. That can partially be put down to lack of interest in legal academia as a career in India (similar phenomenon present in Britain and the U.S. - speaking from personal experience, so no need to get too worried that we are facing a unique issue). Other than that, it's as it should be. NLS is an elite place, and its selection standards should be super high.

True , Odisha's probably one of the last places to be , when considering Higher Education , the amount of ragging is insanely high and professionalism is at its worse state , needlessly to say all good institutes placed in Odisha also are not doing well except NIT Rourkela I guess but that too is pretty bad compared to other NITs ( IIT BBSR , IIM Sambalpur etc. etc. ) . One is better off even going to places like Faculty of Law in Central Universities for PhD since they at least have clout in Central University circles ( the likes of DU , BHU etcetera ) but NLUO , Nah .

Simply No , Why ? NLUO has been struggling to place its BA.LLB. batch students ( let alone the 3 year LLB ones ) , it's a fairly new LLB and Cuttack is no happening place to be while doing a PhD , Odisha overall has a pretty low standard for Academics at Higher Education Level . Better go for NLU Delhi , NUJS Kolkata , NALSAR , NLSIU or you can even consider some good Tier 2 ones but good NLUs end here for PhD ( assuming you want to end up in a good place post your PhD ) . Prefer NLS over all others and if you make it there , you'll do fine and at least hope to be placed somewhere good enough ( you can also consider IIM Calcutta , I think they offer a post-doc position for researchers in Business Law since they have executive programs for managers intending to learn business law ) , or you can also consider IIT Kharagpur ( underrated and not same as Top 4 NLUs but better than the rest ) , the IIT tag if used properly can help you as well for decent post-docs abroad .

I have seen this data since I am the one who filed the RTI under which it was released. Fun fact: NLSIU is not on Karnataka RTI portal like other state universities. As a result, the request has to be redirected by another department to NLSIU. Kind of odd, no? Anyway, it is true that NLSIU selects less than the number of positions it advertises. Why? They would probably cite their rules and that the applicants did not meet the necessary criteria to make the cut? Maybe it is true or maybe it is less than true. The point is moot. Ultimately, some do get selected and the process, long and complex that it is, is fair and competitive. There is nothing on record to imply otherwise. And bear in mind that in 2024 only 125 people (83 in law) even applied in the first place. This is ridiculous given how many otherwise eligible candidates there should be in a country the size of India. So maybe the blame is not entirely with NLSIU? It is not like they are drowning in applications. How fair is it to expect a university to mechanically fill in seats even when the applicant pool is so abysmally small? The fact is, students of law in India are simply not attracted enough to do doctoral research, even at NLSIU.

Have you even seen the NLS PhD info...

NLS PhD 2024-25

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

So even if they offer a lakh per month, the chances of getting selected is almost nil.

The answer to this can be found in the “O” of “NLUO”. Intellectually and commercially, Odissa is a backwater. It is nowhere. Nothing of lasting value can survive for long is this place. Forget international law, they cannot even properly teach the Indian law, whether in a so-called NLU or a lowly government college.

Anyone who is doing a PhD from NLUO, could you please provide some details on the course. I'm skeptical about the university administration, however they're providing 30K per month for PhD, which no NLU is providing. As a non-Jrf, Should I join ? Is it worth it for the next 3-5 years ?