COIMBATORE: The University Grants Commission has directed universities to provide details of their LLM courses so that appropriate standards could be prescribed for the curriculum, credits and duration.
In 2012, the UGC had framed guidelines for the one-year LLB programme, after which a number of universities and colleges started offering the course. However, concern was raised about its quality in some institutions, which did not have the faculty and infrastructure prescribed by the UGC.
The UGC then constituted an expert committee to go into the issue. It observed that the two types of LLM programmes — the one-year course and the two-year course — have created confusion. It was thus necessary to prescribe appropriate standards for curriculum, credits and duration.
The committee recommended that information on infrastructure, faculty, curriculum, etc, should be collected from all universities and colleges conducting the LLM programme in a prescribed format to determine the extent to which they are adhering to the UGC guidelines.
The UGC has now asked universities to provide the details of the one-year LLM programme in 15 days.
The UGC has asked for information on course components, staff pattern (professor, associate professor, assistant professor), procedures adopted in admission, trimester/semester, review and updating of curriculum, number of contact hours per week and evaluation scheme among others.