Legal Education in the Brics Countries in the Context of Globalization: a Comparative Analysis

• Author: O. Vinnichenko - E. Gladun
• Position: Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
• Pages: 4-39

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume V (2018) Issue 3

ARTICLES

LEGaL EDuCaTIon In THE BRICS CounTRIES

In THE ConTE XT oF GLoBaLIZ aTIon:

a CoMPaRaTIVE anaLYSIS

OLEG VINNICHENKO,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

ELENA GLADUN,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2018-5-3-4-39

Legal education in the contemporary world is changing. The main inuences are linked

to developments in transportation and communication and the enmeshing of diverse

economies embraced by globalization. Law schools confront more mobile and more

ambitious students who wish to experience dierent jurisdictional practices, to serve

the increasingly global business community and to be more competitive. This research

examines the modications required in legal education as a result of globalization with

specic reference to law schools in the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Research on higher education, and legal education in particular, has been growing in recent

years, yet there is still a gap in the study and comparison of the specics of legal education

within the BRICS countries. This research makes an attempt to analyze and contrast the

current goals, objectives, structure and quality of higher legal education in Brazil, Russia,

India and China. The specics of law schools have been studied over the past twenty years

in correlation with economic, cultural and education trends in BRICS and globally.

Based on research literature, practitioner literature and legislative sources, this paper

outlines common and special features of lawyer training in BRICS. The prime similarity

of the legal education systems in BRICS are global education trends and the inuence of

the U.S. and UK education systems. Each BRICS country experienced an “explosion” in the

popularity of legal education and, consequently, the urgent need to reform the education

OLEG VINNICHENKO, ELENA GLADUN 5

process in order to attain better quality and aordability. The result of these reforms,

taking place in each country from 1950 to today, has become the growing dierentiator

of the educational institutions, turning them into “elite” and “mass” law schools.

The facets of legal education in Brazil, Russia, India and China are attributed to their

national policies as well as the historical development of the educational institutions and

their perception of what specic lawyer skills and competencies are demanded by the

legal market and national population. We conclude that the structure and quality of legal

education as well as the requirements and monitoring tools vary in each country. These are

dependent on several factors: the specic country’s ideology, its economic development,

its proximity to an “Eastern” or “Western” model, its ability to learn from foreign education

systems and its attempts at self-identication in the global educational space.

Keywords: legal education; goals and quality; structure of legal education; the BRICS

countries.

Recommended citation: Oleg Vinnichenko & Elena Gladun, Legal Education in the

BRICS Countries in the Context of Globalization: A Comparative Analysis, 5(3) BRICS

Law Journal 4–39 (2018).

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Goals and Objectives of Higher Legal Education in Brazil,

Russia, India and China

2. Structure of Legal Education at the Universities of Brazil,

India, China and Russia

2.1. Brazil

2.2. India

2.3. China

2.4. Russia

3. Conclusions on the Structure of Legal Education

4. Quality of Legal Education in India, Brazil, China and Russia

4.1. India

4.2. Brazil

4.3. China and Russia

5. Conclusions on the Quality of Legal Education

Conclusion – Tendencies and Challenges of Legal Education

in the BRICS Countries

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume V (2018) Issue 3 6

Introduction

In an ever-increasingly globalized world, the role of the BRICS countries (Brazil,

Russia, India, China and South Africa) is signicantly and rapidly changing.1 Originally,

BRIC was introduced in 2006 (in 2010 South Africa was invited to join the group, which

then became known as BRICS) as an economic and nancial struc ture comprising

the growing economies that potentially were capable of providing for a multipolar

world and the global economy, and playing a leading role in global governance. Over

the past few decades the BRICS countries have played a vital role in globalization.

BRICS economic growth and social inclusion policies have helped stabilize the global

economy, foster job creation, reduce poverty and combat inequality.2 In particular,

strong GDP growth has seen BRICS become engines of the global economy.3

In 2017, the gross domestic product (GDP) – taking into account purchasing power

parity (PPP) – of BRICS was ranked in the top quartile of countries worldwide: China was

rst in this ranking, India fourth, Russia seventh, Brazil ninth and South Africa thirty-rst.4

Quantitative indicators conrm the BRICS members’ high ranking in terms of human

resources (population) and the size of their geographic territories (see Table 1).

Table 1: BRICS Countries Indicators5

China India Brazil Russia South

Africa

Population

(mln. people) 1,378.6 1,324.2 207.7 144.3 55.9

Territory

(mln. square km.) 9.6 3.3 8.5 17.1 1.2

GDP

(bln. U.S. dollars) 11,199.1 2,263.5 1,796.2 1,283.2 294.8

1 Pedro Morazán et al., The Role of BRICS in the Developing World, Directorate-General for External Policies of

the European Union (2012) (Sep. 10, 2018), available at https://www.ab.gov.tr/les/ardb/evt/1_avrupa_

birligi/1_9_politikalar/1_9_8_dis_politika/The_role_of_BRICS_in_the_developing_world.pdf.

2 Towards a Long-Term Strategy for BRICS: A Proposal by the BRICS Think Tanks Council (2015) (Sep. 10,

2018), available at http://www.nkibrics.ru/ckeditor_assets/attachments/55cca92662726921aa02000

0/na_puti_k_dolgosrochnoy_strategii_stran_briks_angl.pdf?1439476006.

3 Irina G. Radulescua et al., BRICS Countries Challenge to the World Economy New Trends, 8 Procedia

Economics and Finance 605, 605–613 (2014).

4 Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (2017) (Sep. 10, 2018), available at https://www.cia.

gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html.

5 БРИКС в цифрах и фактах // РИА Новости. 2 сентября 2017 г. [BRICS in Dates and Facts, RIA News,

2 September 2017] (Sep. 10, 2018), available at https://ria.ru/infograka/20170902/1501572657.html.