AUIS Announces New Law Degree Program, Collaboration with Stanford Law School to Continue
American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) will offer a new Bachelor’s degree in law after receiving approval from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, University President Bruce Walker Ferguson announced today.
The new AUIS Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Law degree will be awarded to students completing a rigorous five-year course of study that includes advanced language study in Arabic and English together with extensive practical experience from internships.
Building on the popular law minor at AUIS, the new major will offer university-level law courses in both English and Arabic, as well as a broad array of courses in the natural and social sciences that are part of the University’s renowned Core Curriculum. The legal studies program at AUIS has been in development in collaboration with Stanford Law School, the number two law degree program in the United States. Last spring, students from AUIS represented Iraq in the final round of the international Jessup Moot Court competition, held in Washington, D.C.
“We thank the Ministry for approving this innovative new academic program, and look forward to continuing our longstanding collaboration with Stanford,” President Ferguson stated. “The new major is designed to provide our graduates with excellent employment opportunities in Iraq and its Kurdistan region, particularly with employers who require their lawyers to have a solid understanding of international law as well as national and regional law.” Employers value the English language proficiency and work ethic of AUIS graduates, resulting in a high percentage (81%) of AUIS graduates who are in graduate school or employed, predominantly in the private sector.
Professor Erik G. Jensen, Director of the Rule of Law Program at Stanford Law School and faculty member of Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), welcomed the news of the law major. “We’re delighted,” he said. “We’ve been working in partnership [with AUIS] for the last six or seven years, first offering a couple of classes, then offering a minor in law, and now a major in law.”
Jensen added that his students at Stanford Law School have already begun writing working papers to support the curriculum design of the new B.A. at AUIS.
Applications for the new law degree are now being accepted. Prospective students may contact the AUIS admissions department at [email protected].
