News

Evaluation of the Department of Law

A high level delegation of the University Grants Commission comprising of Dr. Wickrema Weerasooriya, Member UGC and Chairman, Standing Committee on Legal Studies, UGC, Dr. Harsha Cabral PC and Dr J.M. Swaminathan, both members of the Standing Committee on Legal Studies visited the University of Jaffna between 17 and 20 November to evaluate the Department of Law. Mr. K. Guruparan, Head, Department of Law coordinated the visit.

The team visited first, second and third year LL.B classrooms on the 17th of November 2017 and witnessed and assessed academic staff taking lectures and interacted with the students separately without the presence of the lecturers. They met the Vice Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Arts in the afternoon and spent two hours in the evening with Department staff providing feedback from their observations during the day. The team expressed high level of satisfaction with the teaching and learning activities and provided input for further development. They were of the opinion that the Department of Law at the Jaffna University had the potential of becoming an important seat for learning law in the country. The team will report back to the Standing Committee in Law at its forthcoming meeting.

On 18 November 2017 the three visitors addressed a seminar on ‘Contemporary Developments in Commercial Law’ attended by practicing lawyers and law students.

On 20 November 2017 they further took guest lectures on the law of contract, company law, intellectual property law and the law of property for LL.B students.

Further information about the visitors:
Dr. Wickrema Weerasooriya in addition to his role in the UGC is also an Advisor to HE the President of Sri Lanka, Insurance Ombudsman of Sri Lanka and Formerly Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation and Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand.

Dr. J.M. Swaminathan is a Precedent Partner of Messrs. Julius & Creasy, Member, Law Commission of Sri Lanka, the Council of the University of Colombo, and Formerly Member of the Council of Legal Education. He is also a Member of the Company Law Advisory Commission and Intellectual Property Law Advisory Commission.

Dr Harsha Cabral is a President’s Counsel and a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, the Advisory Commission on Company Law in Sri Lanka, the Council of the University of Colombo, UGC standing Committee on Legal Studies and of the Board of Studies (Council of Legal Education).