Professor Mark Wojcik of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago has been working at the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law — the first law school in the history of the Kingdom of Bhutan, a country of 750,000 people located between China and India — in Thimphu, Bhutan since July.
Wojcik's work at the law school is part of the Fulbright Specialist Program, which sends U.S. faculty and professionals to serve as expert consultants on curriculum, faculty development, and institutional planning at academic institutions abroad. Leading up to the beginning of classes, Wojcik helped teach a month-long orientation program.
“It’s an incredible honor to help launch the first law school in Bhutan, a country that went from being an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy less than ten years ago,” Wojcik said. “The Bhutanese Constitution entered into effect in 2008 and this new law school is going to train the lawyers that the country will need to implement that Constitution.”
The law school’s first class has a total of 25 students—13 women and 12 men—from all parts of Bhutan. Students were chosen from a national pool of 499 applicants. Successful applicants then took a special version of the LSAT. The top 50 candidates were then interviewed, and 25 were admitted based on their scores, grades, and a personal interview.