University starting its law programme

August 06, 2012 10:11 PM

PHILIPSBURG--University of St. Martin (USM) will start an online law programme in collaboration with an Open University in The Netherlands in September.

Only the first two years of the programme will be offered, USM President Annelies van den Assem said. A total of 63 persons have already registered for the programme, however, van den Assem said that this number is likely to drop as the course progresses because the course is very Dutch in nature and studying law is not easy.
 
The programme will start at two different paces because according to van den Assem some persons prefer to study fast while others prefer a slower pace. To assist students, USM will put in place a tutor system using locally operating attorneys.
 
"Online studying; it sounds nice but it's still difficult. Now we found a lot of lawyers on the island who are very much ready to help us to take part in a tutoring system," she said.
 
The USM President said it's not possible to build up a law programme in
 
St. Maarten because this would be too costly. "You [would also] need faculty here for that, but the Open University will offer the programme in an online basis and USM will offer a tutor system."
 
"I've been talking with one of the directors of the UWI (University of the West Indies), which has a completely online open campus in Anguilla and I was told that UWI discovered that offering online studies requires a tutor system. That is very interesting because we just came to the conclusion that we have to do something in that area."
 
University of The Netherlands Antilles (UNA) is also interested in assisting USM with the programme.