CESL - About CESL

To date the China-EU School of Law at the China University of Political Science and Law (CESL) is the only law school to be approved by the Ministry of Education under the "Sino-foreign Schools Agreement." Prior to CESL's establishment, Premier Wen Jiabao had high expectations, expressing his hope that "CESL will educate a great cohort of talented legal professionals equipped with knowledge spanning both Chinese and Western law." The CESL Opening Ceremony was held on October 23, 2008. The ceremony took place at CUPL's Changping campus in the presence of Vice Premier of the State Council and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of China's Communist Party Li Keqiang and President of the EU Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.

The Joint Managerial Committee (JMC) is CESL's decision making body. The JMC is composed of ten members, and led by member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Director of the Committee for Social and Legal Affairs of the CPPCC and former Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen, who is Chinese Co-Chairperson, and UHH representative Heinrich Julius, who is the European Co-Chairperson. CESL's day-to-day management is the responsibility of the co-deans and CUPL and UHH each nominated one. Professor Fang Liufang is the Chinese co-dean and executive principal. Professor Ninon Colneric, the European co-dean, is responsible for finance and professional training.

A high-level of efficiency, transparency, and multiculturalism distinguish CESL's management. CESL's highly diversified administrative team comprises full-time and part-time staff, those who are included in CUPL's personnel system (人事编制) and those outside, as well as both foreigners and Chinese. Staff members work together, learning from each others strengths and weaknesses, to achieve great results. CESL makes public as much information as possible on administration, finance and teaching. Currently, all important data related to CESL can be found on the web site.

An Advisory Board was established in accordance with the Financing Agreement. The board acts as both supervisor and consultant to CESL. Chinese representatives on CESL's Advisory Board are: former President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, Xiao Yang; former Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Jia Chunwang; and professor and civil law expert from the Institute of Law of the China Academy of Social Sciences, Wang Jiafu. Foreign members of the Advisory Board are: Head of the European Delegation to China, Serge Abou; former President of the European Court of Justice, Gil Carlos Rodriguez Iglesias; and Dean of the China-Europe International Business School Rolf D. Cremer.

2. Graduate Studies Programme
CESL is exclusively focused on teaching graduate legal studies. This is in accordance with the government agreement and Ministry of Education remarks, which state that the graduate programme should include: the three year Double Master's combining boththe CUPL LL.M./ J.M. and the UHH Master of European and International Law; the one year UHH Master of European and International Law; and the three year CUPL Juris Doctorate (Ph.D.).

Full-time professors for Chinese law classes come from CUPL and adjunct professors come from prestigious law schools in Beijing and other cities. Professors of Chinese law hold qualifications from prestigious universities in China and abroad, are thoroughly versed in the law, and dedicated to teaching. Professors for European law classes come from 13 European universities (all members of the CESL consortium). From autumn 2008 to the end of the summer 2010, 118 European lecturers (including professors, associate professors, lecturers and tutors) from nine countries, taught classes on European law at CESL. Although European law professors come from different countries, classes are taught solely in English.

In the first semester of the 2010-11 academic year, a total of 164 master's students will study at CESL. Amongst which there are 144 Double Master's students; 20 LL.M. students studying only European and International Law (9 international students and 11 Chinese students); and 12 doctoral students (10 from Mainland China, 1 from HK/TW/MC, and 1 international student).

CESL students are highly diverse. The 80 Double Master's from the 2010 intake include students from 43 universities and 22 provinces and 4 municipalities scattered throughout China. The seven international students studying the European and International law programme come from: France, Austria, Croatia, Spain and Belgium. CESL students also come from a wide range of educational backgrounds including those who read both law and non-law subjects for their bachelor's degree (in China, applicants are not required to hold a legal qualification prior to reading either an LL.M. or a J.M). The diversity and variety of our students means that they are open-minded and willing to learn from each other.

In the summer of 2010, thirty-three students graduated from CESL. Three students were accepted to read for doctorates, twenty-nine students found employment before graduation and one student two months after graduation. 81.5% percent of graduates entered the legal profession (judges, procurators, lawyers and in-house legal counsel), 78% percent of students found employment in Beijing, and 100% percent of students found employment in large cities.

From the outset CESL created professional training programmes for judges, procurators, lawyers and other legal professionals. CESL works with the National Judges College and the National Prosecutors College to train judges and procurators respectively. Lawyers training is organized either wholly by CESL or in cooperation with the All China Lawyers Association. Details of the professional training programme from 2008 to 2010 are as follows:

CESL actively organises and subsidises academic research and events. The first CESL academic conference was held on January 10 and 11, 2009. The conference lasted two days and received sixty-three papers from China, Europe (six countries), and America. Forty scholars attended and gave presentations, with topics related to the judicial system, human rights, economic law, civil law, environmental law and corporate social responsibility.

CESL published a guide on how to apply and an application form for research funding in 2009. A total of 26 applications were received by the deadline for applications (May 31, 2009) of which five proposals, including 26 European and Chinese scholars, were awarded funding. Areas of research included: private international law, judicial service, civil law, environmental protection law and agricultural co-operatives for farmers.

CESL began a series of lectures in 2009 to further promote the master's programme and broaden students' perspectives. CESL invited: Hans-Jörg Albrecht, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law; the Tsinghua University Mei Ru-ao Professor of Law, Feng Xiang; former German Minister of Justice, Herta Däubler-Gmelin; German Ambassador, Michael Schaefer; French Ambassador, Hervé Ladsous; EU Ambassador Serge Abou; former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the EU Commission Romano Prodi; and Secretary General of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, Joris Demmink to give lectures, which received widespread attention from both students and teachers.

CESL registered the web address www.cesl.edu.cn with the MOE and the CERNIC Whois Database on September 22, 2008. CUPL has exclusive use of this web address. The website officially began on September 24, 2008 and is simultaneously updated in both Chinese and English. Following technological upgrades, the website is now compatible with a large number of international browsers. The website has become an important platform for publicity and PR for each of CESL's programmes and CESL's day-to-day activities. One of the distinguishing features of the CESL website is that it does not reproduce news stories or data copied from other sources; all information is original, wholly related to education and CESL.

CESL remains committed to a policy of maximising the amount of information available to the public and to promoting the sharing of data. No other method is more effective than the internet in implementing this policy. Over the last year, CESL publicised all information relevant to students, including: admissions, past exam questions, standards for admissions, scholarship criteria, scholarship winners, course outlines, reading materials, electronic books, and internship and job opportunities.

CESL is also in the process of creating a unique electronic legal teaching database. The database will be a collection of professors' published and unpublished articles and speeches, students' homework, speeches made by visiting dignitaries, exam questions and reference answers; and will be free for CESL students. A multi-purpose student database was set up in the autumn term of 2009, which in addition to containing basic information on students, also includes course schedules, class registration, exam results for individual modules and finals.

CESL has received much international attention, even if our achievements have been somewhat exaggerated. In 2010, CESL was listed as the second most popular law school in Asia, out of 106 other schools offering LL.M. programmes, by the LLM Guide (http://www.llm-guide.com/most-popular/asia). CESL has been in the spotlight since it was established on an international platform with a myriad of partners; this is likely to mean its international reputation continues to grow rapidly.

Since its establishment in October 2008, CESL has consistently been the most active platform for international legal exchange. Professors from 13 European partner institutions, a steady flow of lawyers, judges, and prosecutors from more than 20 associates came to China to teach. CESL has hosted more than 300 international experts and researchers. During only September 2009 to October 2010, CESL invited no less than 142 international scholars and high-level government officials from Germany, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, and Ireland to visit, teach and give speeches. This statistic does not even include people CESL did not need to send official invitations letters to such as international leaders and journalists. Currently, there are four foreigners working at CESL, ten foreign students and around three visiting foreign professors.