TENTATIVE PLAN FOR SEMESTER BASED CURRICULUM AT NLIU

The University Grants Commission as well as the Bar Council of India Legal
Education Rules prescribes 90 working days, excluding examinations. This adds up
to 180 teaching days and up to 20 days for examinations in a year. In the Trimester
scheme, the existing NLIU Regulations mandate 70 working days in a Trimester,
excluding examinations. This requires 210 working days in a year and examinations
of about 20 to 30 days in a year.

PRINCIPLE – I

The switch over will be complete for all the classes and courses at NLIU.

PRINCIPLE – II

Any inconvenience or disruption of the students’ activities during 2019 – 2020 will be
addressed meaningfully, without affecting the students’ interests in any of the
internship programme or any other NLIU supported academic programmes.

PRINCIPLE – III

There is a possibility to work out different Grade Value for 4 Clinical Courses, 6
Optional / Elective Courses and 8 Honours courses.

PRINCIPLE – IV

All the 4 Clinical Courses could be meaningfully organised outside the time table
during the 4th and 5th year of the UG Course, after due deliberations.

PRINCIPLE – V

The students of NLIU could spend one semester in any other National Law
Universities in India or abroad, depending upon the existing and future plans.

PRINCIPLE –VI

There will be a total of 5 courses per Semester as against the four in a Trimester.
This would enable the teaching-learning experience more meaningful and cover
wider curriculum and is expected to provide in-depth analysis of the course contents.

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Thus, there will be a total of 50 courses as against 60 courses in the Trimester
scheme in vogue at NLIU.

PRINCIPLE –VII

The distribution of marks for regular courses in the process of continuous evaluation
shall be as follows:

a) Attendance : 05 marks
b) Project : 20 marks
c) Viva voce : 05 marks
d) Mid-term examination: : 20 marks
e) End-term examination : 50 marks

There will be no mid-term examination in 4 Clinical Courses or 6 Optional / Elective

Courses. Similarly, subject to the course curriculum developed by the teachers, there
may not be any mid-term examination even in 8 Honours courses. In all these
courses, the method of evaluation will be prescribed by the course teachers as
approved by the Curriculum Review Committee each Semester.

Students who fail at the end of any Semester shall appear for the Repeat or Re-
repeat examination only for 70 marks and the marks obtained in attendance, project
and viva voce would be carried forward.

PRINCIPLE – VIII

Each course / subject taught in the Semester scheme shall have a Project as well as
Viva voce (Based on the Project).

The Semester pattern would facilitate submission of such projects during the course
of each Semester and spread over to the duration of course (approximately 4+
months). Two projects may be submitted at the end of the first month, one project
two weeks prior to the mid-term examination and two projects one month prior to the
end term examination. The dates for such submissions would form part of the Annual
Academic Calendar and duly notified to all the students.

In some of the courses, involving field visits or collection of empirical data, the
teacher may allot a project title to two or more students. Such proposals have to be
placed before the Academic Review Committee before the project titles are notified.

To the extent possible, the teachers shall announce the list of project topics prior to
the completion of the semester to enable the students to complete some of the
projects or at least collect relevant materials during the vacations.

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Apart from this, a scheme for project exemptions could be worked out by the
faculty in consultation with the students. Some of the project exemptions may reflect
the following features:

The following broad guidelines are provided for the Project exemptions:

a) Participation in any National Moot competition : One project

b) First or second place at any National Moot competition : Two projects
c) BCI Moot Competition (participation) : Two projects
d) BCI Moot competition – first / second place : Four projects
e) International Moot competition (National rounds- participation) : One projects
f) International Moot – national rounds – first / second place : Two projects
g) International Moot – international rounds – participation : Two projects
h) International Moot – international rounds – first / second place : Four projects
i) International client counselling, mediation etc.,- participation : Two projects
j) International client counselling, mediation etc., first / second : Four projects
k) Winning first / second places in Debates / cultural / sports : One project
l) Publication of research articles in peer reviewed journals : Two projects

However, the total number of project exemptions in a year shall not exceed five and
in the entire UG course, it shall not exceed 20 exemptions.

Project exemptions shall be based on the preference expressed by the students.

The work done by the students in any of the above, shall be assessed by the
teachers having such specializations and the same shall be counted for 25 marks
(project 20 marks and viva 05 marks) and there shall be no viva voce examination in
such situations. Plain participation or representing the NLIU in any such events shall
not entail any exemption. Detailed guidelines shall be formulated in due course.

PRINCIPLE – IX

As there shall be five courses in a semester, one of the following schedules may be
pressed into service:

Session OR Session

a) First hour 0930 – 1030 0900 – 1000

b) Second hour 1040 – 1140 1010 – 1110
c) Third hour 1150 – 1250 1120 – 1220
d) Lunch break 1250 – 1350 1220 – 1320
e) Fourth hour 1350 – 1450 1320 – 1420
f) Fifth hour 1500 – 1600 1430 – 1530

This is not final as minor alterations could be made based on consultations.

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PRINCIPLE – X

As the Universities have to function 90 days in a semester excluding examinations,

there are three options available to NLIU:

Option-A: Five days a week and a total of 18 weeks in a semester;

Option B: Six days a week and a total of 15 weeks in a semester; and

Option C: Six days a week, but two Saturdays in a month to be holidays.

Whatever is the option, NLIU has to function for 90 days and 10 days for semester
examinations, totalling 100 working days in a semester. The tentative schedule
under these three options is given below:

FIRST SEMESTER

This does not include holidays at all. Only working days are taken into consideration.

Month and Year Option A Option B Option C

July 2019 23 days 27 days 25 days

August 2019 19 days 24 days 22 days
September 2019 19 days 23 days 21 days
October 2019 20 days 24 days 22 days
November 2019 19 days 02 days 10 days
(From July 01 to) Up to Nov 28 Up to Nov 02 Up to Nov 15

SEMESTER BREAK FOR ONE MONTH

SECOND SEMESTER

December 2019 04 days 23 days 13 days

January 2020 23 days 26 days 24 days
February 2020 19 days 23 days 21 days
March 2020 18 days 23 days 21 days
April 2020 20 days 05 days 20 days
May 2020 16 days --------- 01 day
Up to 23 May, 2020 - Up to 05 April, 2020- Up to May 01, 2020

We can increase first semester break to 45 days and can schedule the calendar.
These are broad principles and further details can be worked out to switch over to
Semester Scheme at NLIU.