NUS Law Launches New Maritime Law Programmes

The Faculty of Law has partnered the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to launch two new post-graduate maritime law programmes commencing August 2007. The programmes - the Masters in Law (LLM) in Maritime Law and the Graduate Diploma in Maritime Law and Arbitration - will benefit from scholarship funding provided by the MPA's Maritime Cluster Fund. The Fund aims to strengthen the talent pool needed for the high value-added and knowledge-based services in the Singapore maritime sector.

The LLM in Maritime Law aims to provide law graduates with specialised knowledge in maritime law, so as to strengthen and widen the pool of maritime lawyers in Singapore. On its part, the new Graduate Diploma in Maritime Law and Arbitration will be targeted at professionals like Merchant Marine COC1 holders as well as maritime executives whose first degrees are not in law but hope to upgrade themselves with speciliased knowledge on maritime law and arbitration.

To make it more attractive for qualified individuals to sign up for the law programmes, MPA will offer the Local Maritime Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme for both programmes. Under this scheme, MPA will fund 60% of the total cost of each scholarship subject to a maximum of $15,000. The remaining amount would be borne by the sponsoring company.

BG(NS) Tay Lim Heng, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said: "To support Singapore’s growth as an International Maritime Centre, a steady stream of high-quality maritime-ready graduates is required. The partnership between MPA and NUS in developing the new programmes is a step towards building that pool of graduates and also reflects our shared commitment in developing the right skills for the maritime industry."

Associate Professor Alan Tan, Vice-Dean and Director of Graduate Programmes at the NUS Faculty of Law, said: "Shipping- and transport-related subjects have always been important offerings at our law school, with its diverse slate of subjects and courses. Our commitment is to work with MPA and other agencies, as well as shipping companies and law firms specializing in shipping law, to be the foremost maritime law training centre in the Asian region. By incorporating arbitration, dispute settlement and regulatory policy courses into the programmes, we hope to widen our students’ perspectives and to enhance their relevance not only to legal practice, but to government, industry and the broader business community as well. This NUS advantage will apply to both our undergraduate and postgraduate law programmes. In the process, we hope to further contribute to Singapore’s growth as an IMC."

More information on the two programmes can be found at http://law.nus.edu.sg/prospective/postgrad/coursework/llm_ml.htm and http://law.nus.edu.sg/prospective/postgrad/graddip/dip_mlarb.htm.