The Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong is the first law school in Hong Kong and one of the most prestigious law schools internationally. First established in 1969 as a Department of Law in the Faculty of Social Sciences, it became a School of Law with an autonomous Board of Studies in 1978, and a Faculty of Law on 1 July 1984. Today, the Faculty has over 60 full time academic staff from about 17 jurisdictions; and 1,500 students. It has 2 Departments, the Department of Law and the Department of Professional Legal Education, and 4 research centres. The Faculty offers a 4-year LLB programme, 4 double-degree programmes, a 2-year JD programme, a professional qualification programme, and a variety of taught master programmes focusing on human rights, Chinese law, corporate and financial law, information technology and intellectual property, and arbitration. It also offers various research postgraduate programmes, including MPhil, PhD and SJD.