Visit to the Ulster Law School
View(s):On an invitation from Ulster University to deliver a Public Lecture on the 9th of September, I spent almost the entire day meeting with the Dean and Head of Law and other academics and a few Ph.D. students.
It is a very large campus with spacious buildings, including modern lecture theatres, tutorial rooms and excellent student accommodation facilities. The physical location of its many campuses reminds one of the wise decision made by Sir Ivor Jennings to locate the University of Ceylon at Peradeniya. The University is rapidly expanding and several new buildings in the city centre are under construction. From my hotel room I was able to see the H & W ship yard where the famous Titanic was built.
The Public Lecture in the evening on religious and ethnic issues in Sri Lanka and the relevance to Northern Ireland was well attended and well received. Those present included Justices of the High Court, academics from Ulster and other universities in Northern Ireland, sociologists, Transnational Institute staff, Ph. D students and individuals with an interest in political science. The two-hour session included a lively Question and Answer session.
The Ulster University Law School is highly ranked for research and teaching. As it was vacation time only a few Ph. D students were at Ulster. Two of them underlined many factors which made them choose Ulster for undergraduate studies and later proceeded to do their post-graduate students.
They had no regrets whatsoever; in fact, their experience had surpassed their initial expectations.
At the time of entry each student is assigned a Mentor who will help the student with academic as well as personal problems. Lecturers come well prepared for lectures and cheerfully accept criticisms and encourage questions. The staff endeavour to promote critical thinking. Tutorials which follow every two-hour lecture session on a topic given during the previous week were found to be very stimulating, often exceeding the time-limit. The Library has a fantastic collection of law reports and law books with ready access to electronic databases. Closer to examination time lecturers make every effort to provide additional guidance to students who lack confidence. Despite the strict marking schemes, the percentage of failures is very low.
Belfast is a relatively less expensive city. With the ability to work for 20 hours a week from Day 1, students are generally able to meet their accommodation costs and living expenses. It is considered as a relatively safe city; in fact, even during the height of the troubles the casualties had been few and far between.
Ulster University has a Sports Centre on par with international standards. During the last Olympics, for instance, swimmers used the swimming pool for their pre-Olympics training.
All in all, it was a visit that reinforced what I had heard previously about Ulster University, its campuses, facilities, and the high quality and commitment of the staff.
-Dr. Dayanath Jayasuriya P. C.
