JGU Vice-Chancellor Prof C Raj Kumar receives Capital Foundation Award

Prof C Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of OP Jindal Global University, received the Capital Foundation Justice PN Bhagwati Award for his contribution to human rights, legal education and institution building..The award was conferred by Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. The event was presided over by retired Supreme Court judge Justice AK Patnaik, Chairman of Capital Foundation..Speaking to Bar & Bench on receiving the award, Prof Kumar said,.“For me, it only reinforces the fact that I have to continue my work both in terms of research and writing on Human Rights as well as the legal education and institution building activities at JGU. I feel a greater sense of responsibility and truly humbled and privileged to be given this award.”.In a conversation with Bar & Bench, he discussed the importance of improving research in Indian law schools and his future plans for Jindal Global Law School. Here are excerpts of the conversation:.On the importance of research in law schools.“This is one of the biggest challenges that Indian legal education is facing. Our law schools have not been envisaged as research and knowledge creating institutions. There is very little substantive and empirical research that takes place in our law schools. To change this, both the faculty as well as the students must contribute. You need to have faculty that have competence, capability, vision and commitment to pursue research.”.Future plans for JGLS.“We still have a long way to go. Our aim is to be one of the leading law schools in the whole of Asia. We want to develop a broader range of career opportunities for our students. A large number of law graduates are increasingly opting for corporate jobs; we need to challenge that trend and inspire imagination among our law school student..One of the problems all law schools face is that the best and brightest law graduates never get into academia. We give opportunities to young law graduates who have studied at different universities in the world to come back to India and research and teach at Jindal.”.Prof Kumar was appointed as Founding Vice-Chancellor of JGU in 2009, at the age of 34. He has an LLB degree from Delhi University, before which he obtained a B.Com degree from Loyola University, Chennai. He is a Rhodes Scholar, having pursued his BCL at Oxford. He also holds an LLM from Harvard Law School and an SJD from Hong Kong University..Read the full interview with Prof Raj Kumar here.