Dr. Ayushi Aggarwal, Assistant Professor at IILM Law School is proficient in Criminal and Human Rights Laws. She has an outstanding educational journey and recipient of a gold medal in LL.M. and topper of the batch of 2009-14 for B.A. LL.B. at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) Rohtak. 

Ayushi Aggarwal has recently completed her PhD to further deepen her knowledge and enhance her professional capabilities. Not only has she worked as a legal volunteer with the District Legal Services Authority, Gurgaon but also has been involved with various legal aid groups in Gurgaon and Delhi which gave her an opportunity to make the underprivileged aware of several legal topics and their rights.

IILM University

Being a Faculty of the Department, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

IILM University believes in facilitating the holistic development of its students. As a faculty at IILM, I believe my first duty is toward my students by creating engaging lesson plans, instructing in different subjects, and motivating students. Other teacher duties and responsibilities typically include teaching students various skills, preparing students for standardized tests, creating and enforcing classroom rules, tracking student progress, and communicating with parents. 

Additionally, I also need to continually assess my students’ abilities, knowledge, and performance, outline extracurricular activities, and collaborate with other teachers and parents to track students’ progress and improve their results. In order to create a favourable academic atmosphere one must foster an environment that encourages intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and research orientation among the students.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

I think building relationships is much easier when you maintain a positive attitude. This is something that I consider to be one of my strengths, I treat others well and am naturally an optimistic person. I’ve found that being positive even in tough circumstances naturally builds relationships. A positive relationship with a student is close and supportive, but not overly dependent. A teacher who cares about his or her students believes that every child can learn, but at different rates, sets high expectations, is warm and trusting, and strives to keep the relationship conflict-free. To accomplish healthy relations, a teacher should listen to and take a personal interest in their students’ lives. They should show respect, value the individuality of each student, and be kind and polite they should also give honest, but kind feedback, and offers second chances. 

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How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry- oriented?

With conventional technical teaching methodologies in educational environments, the pathway is to build the foundation of learning through subject-based teaching in the legal discipline. We also follow this method for subjects based on the knowledge required for the discipline. 

In order to add industrial orientation to the curriculum, we provide our students with a mix of traditional and experiential learning where we plan guest lectures from industry personnel and take students for industrial visits, legal aid, and various other judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. 

With this approach, students will graduate with industrial-oriented learning experience prior to their first job. Additionally, we encourage students to pursue internships during their summer break for a period of two months to enhance their skills which prepares them for future employment.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students which help them gain the necessary skills?

We follow several best practices to fully support our students achieve their best. All our students get support and guidance to take part in research. There are also regular moot court sessions at our college along with an active legal aid clinic that provides free legal aid to people who are economically weaker. Occasionally, there are also special guest lectures that are held by the best minds in the industry. Students can supplement their studies with a well-equipped library and free online resources.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it get updated to make it befitting for the students?

Having standards are clearly an important focal point for the curriculum at IILM Law College. I believe that the best way to structure the semester is through proper curriculum planning and ensuring that students cover the required material along with the recent case laws. The way that I approach this is to start with the framework of standards and build my lessons around them. I do not teach only what will be assessed in testing, but also what is not included. Objective performance is an excellent way to gauge students’ understanding of the material and my curriculum map allows me to ensure that the necessary skills are covered and assessed prior to standardized testing.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

Competition among students is quite stiff these days either in education, games or when searching for jobs. If the student is not able to sustain themselves, they fear they will be placed at the end even though they have all capabilities. Students of today need new skills for the coming century that will make them ready to collaborate and compete with others on a global level and we can expect their work to include creative solutions to emerging challenges. As a mentor or teachers, we can always assist them by inculcating values and new skills, teaching tolerance, helping them develop their strengths, and most importantly, helping them learn from their failures or mistakes.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real-world challenges?

Extracurricular involvement is a key tool in the personal development of the students. Students become involved in extracurricular activities not only for entertainment, social, and enjoyment purposes but also for gaining and improving skills. As the development of a well-rounded individual is a principal goal at IILM University, we hold numerous activities such as workshops, seminars, conferences, and moot courts. These provide opportunities for the students to engage with the wider legal profession and community, represent the school and promote our programs and initiatives. 

Our extracurricular activities also impact students’ emotional, intellectual, social, and interpersonal development. Working together with other individuals, students learn to negotiate, communicate, manage conflict, and lead others. In addition to this, we give the students all opportunities to participate in clubs, sports, music, and writing to enhance and develop their skills. 

We have prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion and have sought to create a learning environment that values and celebrates differences in background, culture, and experience. This has involved creating opportunities for dialogue and engagement, as well as providing support such as internships and placements opportunities to students so that they may enter the real world with prior experiences.

How does the department/ college/university enhance the skills of the faculty and prepares them according to the industry standards?

IILM University has set up a cell for innovative learning with the objective to establish strong industry connections, conduct workshops, such as MDP, and FDPs in collaboration with industry and provide suggestions for process improvement as well as curriculum improvement. Further, to promote research, the university provides research incentives, professional development activities such as in-service training for faculty, teaching excellence awards and competitions for remarkable improvements, teaching innovation funds, teaching recruitment criteria, support for innovative pedagogy, communities of teaching and learning practices, provide appropriate learning such as environments libraries, computing facilities. 

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What do you see as the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

I believe IILM Law School’s strength lies in our well-trained, research-oriented, experienced, dedicated, and energetic teaching faculty members and a team of supportive non-teaching staff. We have a well-maintained infrastructure including a new building that promotes a good learning environment through our prolific library, and smart classrooms. It is because of the facilities we produce impressive and excellent results in our university examinations.

For incoming students, we have a simple and transparent admission procedure. We provide research fellowships and have established a centre for post-graduate legal studies. We are proud of our excellent student-teacher rapport with an emphasis on mentoring and counselling

IILM University has excellent extra-curricular activities and a vibrant sports culture, a well-organized extension, community service programs, and outreach activities by students and faculty rooted in cultural values. The university is rooted in moral responsibility and cultural values that is reflected in our successful alumni who have a good interface with industries, research, and educational institutes.

What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

The norms of the world change once you step out of your college. From a carefree little world where people dream of being a guitarist in a band, students come to a stage where everybody goes about their business in a rather serious way. Money becomes the priority, and success is defined by the car you drive and the apartment you live in. My only advice would be don’t wait for the opportunities rather create them and love what you do. Stop fearing failure and have the desire to succeed. You will definitely succeed one day.