Asian Law Deans Meet for Inaugural Forum; Temasek Foundation Gift Makes Possible First Ever Asian Law Deans' Forum on Legal Education, to Be Jointly Hosted With National University of Singapore Law School.

Byline: National University of Singapore

SINGAPORE, July 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Temasek Foundation, Singapore and the National University of Singapore (NUS) are pleased to announce the inaugural Asian Law Deans' Forum on Legal Education to be held in Singapore at the NUS Faculty of Law from 6 to 8 July 2009. Initiated by NUS Law School, with funding from Temasek Foundation as well as support from the Asian Law Institute ("ASLI"), the Forum brings together over 45 deans and leaders of law schools in the region for an intensive high-level meeting to discuss common issues regarding legal education. The participants were sought on a by-invitation-only basis and will represent over 30 institutions from Asian non-OECD countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The initiative is consistent with Temasek Foundation's commitment to capacity-building in Asia through education. Temasek Foundation has committed up to $500,000 to NUS Law School for this programme. In addition to funding the Asian Law Deans' Forum, Temasek Foundation's grant will be made available to NUS Faculty of Law for further collaboration with regional law schools that are committed to upgrading their institutional capacity in teaching policy and pedagogy over the next 2 years. One of the objectives of the forum is to identify such possible opportunities for collaboration to enhance educational leadership in law education in the region.

The forum also follows naturally from NUS Faculty of Law's leadership in matters of legal education. In 2004, the Law School organised a symposium on the theme "Reflections on Legal Education" under the auspices of ASLI, which brought together over 40 scholars from 18 institutions. In recent years, faculty members have been active as consultants on topics relating to law curriculum design and review and law education pedagogy. The Asian Law Deans' Forum will take this to a new level by gathering the leaders of institutions together with a view to facilitating opportunities for cross-institution collaboration and co-operation.

Professor Tan Cheng Han, Dean of NUS Faculty of Law and Senior Counsel, said, "This is an important development in Asian legal education as it marks the first time that Deans from leading Asian law schools are gathering to discuss issues of importance relating to legal education, particularly at a time when many schools are fundamentally re-examining their existing models. This forum would not have been possible without Temasek Foundation's generous funding and, perhaps more importantly, Temasek Foundation's vision in seeking out opportunities for contributing to regional capacity-building."

"Beyond the forum, this programme will hopefully create an Asian network of leaders and institutions in legal education, where knowledge in educational leadership, curriculum development and best practices in the teaching of law can be shared for long-term institutional development," said Mr Benedict Cheong, Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Foundation.

About the Forum