Law College

A Brief Introduction to the Law School of the Central University of Nationalities

The Law School was founded in August of 2000 and its predecessor was the Law Department of the Central Institute of Nationalities. Though the Central University did not enroll undergraduates majoring in law until 1979, it is one of the first Chinese universities that started this major. The law school has made great progress in course design, education resources and teaching practice for the past 20 years.

The school offers undergraduate, MA and PhD programs. The undergraduate level includes a law program, a law-English and a law-economics double-degree program. The school has been certified to offer PhD degrees in law in addition to master degrees in economic law, constitutional and administrative law, ethnic law, history of law and civil business law.

The teaching staff in the school has a good academic background. They achieved PhD or MA degrees in law from key Chinese universities and some have an experience of studying abroad. Four have won the qualification of teaching law courses in English and some are working as part-time lawyers. These teachers not only have enthusiasm for their teaching jobs but also superior theoretical knowledge and rich experience in practice.

The school has good facilities for teaching activities. For instance, a simulated court for conducting trails, a classroom especially for discussing cases or other academic topics, a electronic law that is able to be updated in real time, and a data base of cases. All of these provide adequate aids for students’ practice after class.

The school has carried out national “985” projects, and a number of other projects supported by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Electric Power Ministry, the Justice Ministry and the Central University of Nationalities, and gained many research achievements. In addition, the school has been participating in legislation on ethnic affairs and drawing up and appraising regulations concerning this aspect, and playing an important role in regulating the work on ethnic affairs.

The school has established a sustainable and stable relationship with Taiwan, Hong Kong and foreign countries such as the United States, the ROK, Canada, France, and Switzerland, and carried out a series of exchange activities of visiting scholars, students and books in addition to cooperative research projects. Every year the school sends teachers and students to France and the United States to exchange their experience or study law.

The school has attached much importance to develop students’ capability in practice, and frequently organizes simulated courts, debate contests and community work in summer and winter vacations. In February of 2007, the representative team of the school won the first rank prize in the Jessup International Law Simulated Court Contest. The school has established several bases in different local procuratorates and lawyer firms for students’ vacation and graduation work experience.

Adhering to the principle of teaching reform, the school is working hard on cultivating legal talents to satisfy the needs of our country’s modern construction. Since 1997, 1581 undergraduates, 275 graduates and 481 students who have finished all MA courses have graduated from the school and many of them have an outstanding performance in their work positions.

The law school is looking forward to making more achievements in legal talent cultivation during the process of constructing the “211” and “985”projects.