UniFiji setting an example in taking proactive action to prepare Students for New realities
University of Fiji must be commended for taking proactive action to prepare its students to face new realities because of the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The university’s response to the current crisis came to light in the wake of remarks by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum that what is needed after the advent of COVID-19 is a deep understanding of the areas of law to be addressed by the legal profession. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also talked about climate change and the carbon trading market.
He was speaking at the Fiji Law Society Convention which ended at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa, Denarau, Nadi on Saturday.
UniFiji’s JDP School of Law Dean and current Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem says she agrees with Mr Sayed-Khaiyum.
In fact the university has been working on adapting its academic programmes to suit the needs of the current economic environment.
She says Fiji’s law schools need to be cognisant of these new areas and have the responsibility to ensure that their students become completely familiar with the new areas of law that concern the environment and global warming, as well as new developments in property transactions that involve emerging carbon markets, for example corporate securities and finance law and incorporeal interests in property.
The University of Fiji’s JDP School of Law has already introduced some innovative areas of law in its curriculum previously, however, in 2021, the school will revise it once again to include other law subjects to respond to the reality of 21st century practice.
It is also now employing legal academics who have already moved into these areas of research.
Professor Shameem says it is incumbent upon the School of Law at the University of Fiji to ensure that its graduates could embrace modern areas of practice. While law has the reputation of being a conservative subject with lawyers being quite traditionalist in defining what constitutes legal subjects and practice, the law itself is rapidly changing with new bills from Parliament taking note of international developments.
This means that lecturers must consider new areas of law and modernise the teaching of law to give graduates better employment opportunities after graduation, according to Professor Shameem.
The shift in focus is also required in other disciplines like economics and finance. Climate change and COVID-19 have revolutionised the way we do things. One big example is that they have been factored into our National Budget.
If we fail to make the necessary adjustments in our education curriculum we could find it irrelevant to our modern day realities.
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