Europa-Kolleg Hamburg Summer School for China-EU School of Law students

18 August 2009, by Internetredaktion

Since 17 August, 30 law students from Beijing have attended a three-week summer school at Europa-Kolleg Hamburg. They are first year students at the China-EU School of Law (CESL), a new international law school in Beijing that is established with substantial support from the University of Hamburg. Prof. Hans-Heinrich Trute, Dean of the University of Hamburg’s Faculty of Law, and Prof. Thomas Bruha, Director of the Europa-Kolleg and CESL Project Leader, and Hamburg’s Senator of Science, Dr Herlind Gundelach, personally welcomed the young guests. The summer school’s slogan is “European law in practice”. Students have the opportunity to visit places where European and international law is developed, implemented and applied. The programme includes meetings with staff of the European Commission in Brussels, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg and the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

The China-EU School of Law offers a “European and International Law” master’s programme for Chinese and European students as well as double master’s programme in Chinese, European and international Law. In addition, there are professional training courses for legal practitioners and a Sino-European Research Center.

The orientation towards Europe in legal education has a long tradition in China. As early as the 20th century in the Qing dynasty, Chinese lawmakers referred to European codifications when developing Chinese civil law.

 Prof. Hans-Heinrich Trute: “We will bring European legal culture to the centre of attention in China. With the excellent education of future legal players and by gathering EU legal expertise in Beijing, we will give fresh impetus to the Chinese government for a successful reform of the legal system. Moreover, there is great interest in European know-how on protection of intellectual property or competition law issues.”

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bruha: “For our Chinese students, a glance at the real world of European law is an exciting experience here at the summer school. In Europe, they can discover different legal traditions within a short distance of one another.”

Dr Herlind Gundelach: “The China-EU School of Law is a whole new format of Chinese-European research and education cooperation. With its international management, innovative curriculum and unique combination of research and lawmaking, the new Chinese-European law school can act as a role model already today.“