Student Development Plan is a support service for students of SLS, Pune. This Development Plan is provided with a view to facilitate personal development along with academic development during the programme of five years in an incremental manner.
The underlying principles and concepts of the student development plan are taken for Human Resource Management and Psychology. When an 18-year old student enters the Law programme, his / her motivation might be very unclear. Often they are motivated or inspired by superficial influences or the magic bullet of the media or someone's sudden super success. Assessing such student's potential and capability to suit the programme and the profession is uniquely carried out in Symbiosis Law School, Pune through the written entrance examination followed by Group Discussion and Personal Interview. The process links up with the competencies required for variety of legal professions including advocacy, judicial career, advisory, management, reform and public service.
The ideal trio prescribed by Carnegie Report is the future landmark in legal education which this development plan incorporates in a phase-wise manner.
India has more than 1000 Law colleges of different levels of quality and development along side various National Law Schools standing for excellence in legal education. However, the dilemma of 'What next?' torments many a law student. If there is a lack of personal initiative backed by family support and suitable socio-economic context, a law graduate may not fulfill any of the possible and achievable dreams. Further, the directionless drifting attitude of teens requires to be managed and their potential needs to be channeled in the right direction. In a country like India, which is still developing, 'employability', despite having higher professional education still remains a question. Right mix of knowledge, skills and values, in this context, could usher in a positive transformation in the student. Alongside, the professional skills, other skills such as people skills, life skills, team skills and most of all communication skills are required. While combined with right knowledge and ethical values, legal profession could revive its old heritage of leading the nationalist freedom struggle and creating role models. Further, it could touch the core of public service.
During the commencement of the programme, Head of the Institute presents the development plan to the new students and offers the possible milestones year-wise. This is offered with a mix of goals and achieving choices mixing community building, civic engagement, social justice, diversity, international perspective and spiritual exploration. To serve this end, the concept of development consists of two sub-themes – Personal Development and Academic Development