THE UNIVERSITY’S Master of Laws and Doctor of Civil Law programs are set to be transferred to the newly established UST Graduate School of Law.
Maria Liza Lopez-Rosario, inaugural dean of the Graduate School of Law, said the establishment of the school was a requirement by the Legal Education Board (LEB), which wanted UST’s master’s and doctorate of law programs to be separated from the UST Graduate School.
“Right now, the LEB is very strict when it comes to the Graduate School of Law. They want [the programs] to be separated from the Graduate School as a whole,” Rosario said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina explained that law programs have been placed under the LEB’s supervision. The UST Graduate School is under the Commission on Higher Education.
Other law schools like San Beda College and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila have already established graduate schools for law studies, while Ateneo de Manila’s master’s of law is vertically articulated with the institution’s law school.
Divina said the Graduate School of Law would specialize on commercial law, also known as business law.
Divina also said he would require his faculty members who do not have master’s degrees in law to enroll in the new graduate school.
Thirty students have expressed interest to enroll, Rosario said.
Connected curriculum
Rosario said the curriculum of the Graduate School of Law would be connected with that of the Faculty of Civil Law.
“But since I obtained my degree in Spain, I also want to go back to [the curriculum of] Spain, if there is a possibility of connecting the Graduate School [in UST to] the Graduate School in my university in Spain,” Rosario said.
Rosario obtained her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and bachelor of laws from UST in 1984 and 1988, respectively. She obtained her doctorate in civil law in 1997 from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain.
Divina said Rosario was chosen among law faculty members because she was the most qualified.
The Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, the building of the UST Graduate School, will house the Graduate School of Law.
The UST Faculty of Civil Law, the oldest law school in the Philippines, was the first to offer the Master of Laws and Doctor of Civil Law programs in the country.
