The University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Law and the ILI-South African Centre for Excellence (ILI-SACE) have entered into an important collaboration that will see the two institutions cooperate on a series of joint initiatives. The UFS and ILI-SACE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 30 November 2020, followed by the signing of a Project Agreement on 16 December 2020. The collaboration will leverage the synergies of the two institutions to offer executive training programmes/short learning programmes and collaborate on the following aspects:
- Exchange of faculty and researchers for purposes of teaching, conducting lectures, research, and exchange of expertise
- Student exchange
- Collaborative research
- Joint symposia, seminars, conferences
- Exchange of academic information and materials
The UFS Faculty of Law is one of the most respected law faculties in the country, comprising three departments, namely Mercantile Law, Private Law, and Public Law. The faculty also houses the UFS School of Financial Planning Law, the UFS Law Clinic, and the Free State Centre for Human Rights (FSCHR). Within the Department of Mercantile Law is the Centre for Labour Law, where many of the short learning programmes are offered. Other such programmes are offered in the School of Financial Planning Law and the FSCHR.
ILI-SACE is a new centre of law, business, finance, and governance based in Sandton, Johannesburg. It is affiliated to the Washington-based International Law Institute (ILI) and the International Law Institute - African Centre for Legal Excellence based in Kampala, Uganda. It is committed to providing ground-breaking and state-of-the-art executive education for Africa’s lawyers, business managers, and government regulators. Its goal is to expose professionals to best practices from around the globe and to help them adapt to the dramatic changes in law, finance, business, technology, and government regulations that are occurring in Africa and elsewhere.
In cooperation with the UFS, the ILI-SACE will bring lawyers, business executives, and regulators together in many courses to study and work collaboratively and to gain insights into each other’s professional worlds. Skills training such as problem-solving, creative thinking and thinking across disciplines will be a hallmark of the collaboration.
To inaugurate this partnership, the UFS and the ILI-SACE will jointly offer the following short learning programmes (SLPs), starting from the first quarter of 2021:
• Becoming a In-House Counsel: A Lawyers Career Move
• Corporate Finance for Lawyers
• Mediation
These will be followed by a number of other programmes that will be jointly developed and delivered.
The UFS Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof John Mubangizi, expressed his enthusiasm for this collaboration, saying, “This is an exciting collaboration that will benefit both our institutions. In particular, it will enhance our ability to empower our students to bring about societal change and contribute more meaningfully to the broader community.”