The National Law School of India University (NLSIU or NLS) is an institution for under-graduate and graduate legal education. Based in Nagarbhavi, a suburb in the western extremities of the city of Bangalore, the NLSIU was established in 1987 after a statute was enacted for that purpose by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Karnataka, and officially exists since August 29, 1987. Historically, legal education in India was open only to graduates and seen merely as professional training. Dismayed at the quality of legal education in conventional universities, members of the legal fraternity debated the merits of introducing a new system of legal education through the 1970s and 1980s. NLSIU has been consistently ranked as the best law school in India for 8 out of the past 10 years by India Today. The Bar Council of India decided to make the NLSIU law programme a five-year course (in contrast with the American post-graduate system), with courses in the liberal arts included in the first two years.