Cape Verde's ISCJS law school aims for a doctorate for its 20th anniversary

The Higher Institute of Legal and Social Sciences (ISCJS) of Cape Verde wants to launch a doctorate in law, on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, its president, Yara Miranda, announced in an interview with Cape Verdean media outlet Expresso das Ilhas. The anniversary celebrations are themed around human rights.

The school opened in October 2006 to fill the absence of a law degree in the country, which forced Cape Verdean students to train abroad. The Law and Justice Foundation, now the majority shareholder of the entity that runs it, had first organised, with the law faculty of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, a postgraduate course in labour law and business law. The government having refused to open the degree at the public university, the founders created a private institution, which also offered a degree in social work, since abandoned.

Yara Miranda also mentions the suspension of the provision of the building in Achada de Santo António, in Praia, which the institute says it is contesting in court. The ISCJS faces the introduction of free public higher education, which is shaking up the positioning of the private sector in the field.

This legal challenge is part of a process begun in October: the ISCJS had then already contested the suspension of the transfer of its building in Praia.{},