The James E. Rogers College of Law recently announced a dual-degree program with the O.P. Jindal Global University in India.

The agreement will allow students to earn an Indian law degree as well as a juris doctor from the UA. Students who participate in the program will have the opportunity to earn two degrees in two years, which is less than it would take to earn the degrees separately. The collaboration is similar to ones the UA has had with law schools at Harvard, Yale and Cornell, among others.

“This will be the first of a number of agreements that will bring foreign lawyers to the UA,” said David Gantz, a law professor and director of the International Trade and Business Law program. “This agreement will increase diversity at the UA.”

The university, located in Haryana, India, is a nonprofit global university, founded in 2009 in memory of the famous entrepreneur O.P. Jindal. Jindal founded the Jindal Organization, a steel production company that is considered to be one of the most dynamic businesses in India today.

Gantz said he is looking to create similar agreements with other countries in hopes of bringing lawyers who practice around the world to the UA. The UA is currently looking into these types of agreements with universities in Japan, Korea, China, Spain and Mexico.

Representatives from the UA and C. Raj Kumar, a professor and vice chancellor at O.P. Jindal Global University, met earlier this month to discuss the agreement. Both Kumar and Gantz agreed that the program will mutually benefit students and faculty from both universities for many years to come.

“The agreement marks the recognition of the importance of global legal education and transnational legal practice where students from the U.S. and India have an opportunity to pursue legal studies in both jurisdictions,” Kumar said in a press release.

Not only will UA law students have the chance to study aboard in India, but they will also have the chance to study at a distinguished university. The O.P. Jindal Global University was recently recognized as a “Premium Higher Education Institute,” one of only two schools in India to receive such recognition.

College of Law Vice Dean Marc Miller said he believed the agreement would bring a steady stream of students to the UA and, in time, send just as many students to India.

“The U.S.-India connection is not one that is well explored by law schools,” he said. “We live in an increasingly global world and that is reflected at the UA. This is one of many ways in which the College of Law is responding.”