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NUS Faculty of Law signs Memorandum of Understanding with Top Arbitration Institutes on Fellowship and Membership Qualifications

The National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Law, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London) (CIArb) and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for accreditation of two NUS law courses as qualifications for Fellowship and Membership at the Institutes.

The MOU signing ceremony was held on Wednesday, 28 February 2007, at 10 a.m at the Lee Sheridan Conference Room, Eu Tong Sen Building, Faculty of Law, NUS (Bukit Timah Campus). Present at the ceremony (left to right in photos) were Mr Raymond Chan, the President of SIArb, Dr Victor V. Ramraj, Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs, of the Faculty of Law (representing Dean Tan Cheng Han) and Mr R. Hew Dundas, the President of CIArb.



Under the agreements of the MOU,

• The CIArb has newly granted accreditation to the “International Commercial Arbitration” module, offered by the NUS Faculty of Law under the Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree programme, as satisfying the requirements for admission as Members of the CIArb.
   

• The Graduate Certificate in International Arbitration (GCIA) programme, offered by the NUS Faculty of Law and accredited by the CIArb and the SIArb since 2004, will continue to be accredited by the institutes for the next three years. Under this scheme, GCIA graduates are accorded direct admission as Fellows of the SIArb and are exempted from all admission examinations for entry as Fellows of the CIArb.

The MOU agreement acknowledges the expert knowledge and professional training that NUS students receive under the two law courses in dispute resolution, as being equivalent to the education and training conducted for arbitrators by the CIArb and SIArb which are well-established institutes of excellence in arbitration. This collaboration also opens up direct opportunities for NUS students to apply their arbitration skills in domestic and international arenas as well as network with other prominent Members and Fellows of the institutes.

Dean at NUS Faculty of Law, Professor Tan Cheng Han, SC said, “International commercial arbitration transcends national boundaries and judicial systems. Our law firms are increasingly seeing real action in this field within Asia and beyond. We will therefore continue to do what we can to equip our graduates to face this challenge.”

 

Deputy Chairman for SIAC and Course Director of GCIA, Lawrence Boo said, “There can be no substitute for education and training. Many would claim to be ‘experienced’ arbitrators, but without training they could well be experienced in the wrong things and would only realise them with much pain. The Law Faculty has taken the initiative to step in to fill this gap and to give a proper sound foundation for both lawyers representing parties as well the arbitrators hearing cases. I foresee that the NUS programmes will continue to receive wider recognition and accreditation from other leading bodies involved in dispute resolution.”

Since its launch in 2004, the highly competitive GCIA programme has successfully trained lawyers and non-lawyers to be qualified professionals in the conduct of commercial arbitration in the region and beyond. The module on “International Commercial Arbitration” has been taught as an elective module under the Law Faculty’s Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree programme since 1993, and equips students with the basic understanding of the law of arbitration to enable them to advise and represent parties in the arbitral process confidently.