UCT Law School signs historic MoU with Notre Dame Law School
UCT Law School is delighted to announce the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Notre Dame Law School.
This new MoU, signed at a warm and celebratory signing event on 24 April 2024, marks a historic collaboration between the two Law schools, building on a long history of international MoUs that UCT Law Faculty holds with Law schools around the world. The partnership between the Law Schools holds special significance because of Notre Dame Law School’s historical association with South Africans undertaking their LLMs at Notre Dame Law School during apartheid, and returning to South Africa to continue their struggle against apartheid.
Dean of UCT Law, Professor Danwood Chirwa, noted: “We are particularly excited about this new partnership, not only because it builds on Notre Dame Law School’s association with South Africa, but because it gives effect to the Faculty’s Vision 2030 and to the ways in which we can work with Notre Dame Law School to build an intellectual space at the Faculty that connects and enables a diverse community of students and scholars.”
The MoU signing ceremony was the starting event for the first partnership initiative under the new agreement, that took the form of a two-day conference hosted by UCT Law along with Notre Dame Law School, University of Saskatchewan and the Business & Human Rights Journal. Themed Business and Human Rights in Africa, the conference included a range of scholarly papers as well as sessions on developments in the field. The conference will result in a publication and is the first joint research collaboration between the UCT Law School and Notre Dame Law School.
On the MoU and the conference, Professor Chirwa commented:
“This partnership brings with it research opportunities, potential for exchanges between academics and students, and a range of academic possibilities. Our thanks go to G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean of Notre Dame Law School and his team of colleagues. We are deeply appreciative of the confidence that Notre Dame Law School has shown in us in making UCT Law their South African partner, and we are looking forward to exploring our partnership in more depth now that the MoU is firmly in place”.