PHILIPSBURG:--- The Committee for the Promotion of Law studies (“Commissie Rechtsgeleerdheisbevordering”) installed by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Mr. Richard Gibson on February 5th 2016, has completed part of their assignment by conducting an exploratory survey in which the following main topics were addressed:
a) The need assessment (for the study)
b) The academic background;
c) The financing of the study.
A total of 96 surveys were returned from the private and public sectors and from students of the secondary schools. The findings will serve as basis for the wider study that will include extensive interviews with members of the political, economic, and civil societies on the island, as well as the explorations of partnerships with universities on Aruba, Curacao, and the Netherlands offering law programs.
Following the survey the Committee commissioned two experts in the persons of Dr. Francio Guadeloupe, president of the University of St Martin (coordinator of the feasibility study and business plan) and Dr. Peter Klik retired former Dean and Lecturer of the law faculty of the University of Curacao Dr. Moises da Costa Gomez (formerly the University of the Netherlands Antilles) to produce a feasibility report and a business plan for establishing a law faculty on Sint Maarten, and, or, creating the facilities to allow interested Sint Maarteners to obtain their law degree.
For this purpose Dr. Klik was invited to Sint Maarten on May 11th 2016 to further work out the agreement of his task and to commence the research to obtain the information for the reports.
On May 11th 2016, Dr. Klik paid a courtesy visit to the Finance Minister, Mr. Richard Gibson. The team of experts will be holding various meetings with several stakeholders in the coming days.
The target date for completion of the feasibility study and business plan is June 30th 2016.