SINGAPORE - The Government has accepted the Singapore Institute of Legal Education's (SILE) recommendations on revising the list of overseas scheduled universities (OSUs), whose law degrees are recognised for the purposes of admission to the Singapore Bar.
The SILE has conducted its first review of the list and submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of Law.
It has proposed the following:
1. Revise the list of United Kingdom OSUs from 19 to 11 universities. The universities dropped from the list are:
- School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London;
- University of Exeter;
- University of Leeds;
- University of Leicester;
- University of Liverpool;
- University of Manchester;
- University of Sheffield;
- University of Southampton
2. Retain the two New Zealand universities currently on the list, University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington.
The revised list also includes universities from countries such as the United States and Australia.
The ministry, in a statement on Tuesday, said it has accepted the recommendations which will be implemented for prospective intakes from Academic Year 2016/17.
Transitional provisions, however, will be put in place to ensure that Singapore citizens and permanent residents who have secured a place before the relevant cut-off date in the UK OSUs omitted from the list are not adversely affected by the change.
The review of the OSU list was proposed by the 4th Committee on the Supply of Lawyers, which looked into whether the supply of legal professionals here would be sufficient to meet Singapore's legal and business needs.
The committee had proposed in 2013 that the list be reviewed and refreshed every five years, so that it can better act as the "qualitative sieve" that it currently is.
Going forward, the list of OSUs will be reviewed by SILE every five years to ensure the continued quality of law graduates seeking admission to the Singapore Bar, said the ministry.
