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To that end, should law schools in Commonwealth Africa simply imitate or transplant models of law degree programmes from abroad? And what lessons are there to follow? What should African students, based either on the African continent or in the diasporas, focus on when choosing law degree programmes at universities outside Africa? Are there any advantages in pursuing a postgraduate law degree programme in one country over the other or at one university over the other? What about league tables? How important are they? And what about the issue of accreditation of law schools and law degree programmes? Does that really matter? And are there any lessons to be learned?
By its very nature, the topic under investigation is unavoidably contentious, meaning that some arguments in the book may, understandably, strike a nerve or two. But it is not the aim of this book to cause trouble. That is far from it. Given the contentious nature of the topic, some arguments are likely to be misunderstood or may be met with some controversy or hostility. However, in dealing with a topic of this kind, the role of the author should not be understood as being confined merely to saying or writing only about things that are ‘acceptable’ in the eyes or ears of the public, or saying or writing about things for the sake of simply appeasing or pacifying the audience, but rather to tell the truth as it is, no matter how painful the truth may sound. In that sense, the book charts a new path that has not been trodden fully by published scholarship. An important caveat here is that the book explores a critical path that has, for some time now, occupied the minds of several educationists, and continues to dog several internet debates and discussions. Yet, most of these ideas have not been concretised into proper scientific and academic research.