On the afternoon of March 28, 2016, CUPL Vice-President, Prof. Ma Huaide, met Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, Rector of the University of Freiburg, at the Haidian Campus.
Prof. Ma first extended his warm welcome to Prof. Schiewer, and gave our German guests an overview of CUPL, especially its excellence in law studies and teaching. He mentioned that CUPL operated eight law-related educational institutions, including the distinctive College of Comparative Law (the School of American and Comparative Law, the Sino-German School of Law). The Sino-German School of Law (Chinesisch—Deutsches Institut für Rechtswissenschaft, CDIR) was established in 2004, running on the agreement jointly signed by CUPL, the University of Freiburg and four other German universities. After the said agreement was renewed in 2014, its German partner universities were increased to seven. As one of the most important partners on the German side, the University of Freiburg especially set up a standing coordination office to oversee the smooth operation of that program, and contributed two of its notable professors as the first and the current German Deans of CDIR. Prof. Ma also took the chance to review the history of past teamwork and exchange of students and teachers between the two sides. Up to now, CDIR has dispatched 10 groups of Master degree candidates to further their studies in Germany. Twenty one candidates went to the University of Freiburg, among which 5 have been working on their Doctoral Degree at the University of Freiburg after they acquired their Juris Master Degrees.
Prof. Schiewer said it was his great pleasure to visit CUPL. He mentioned that the University of Freiburg was originally founded in 1457, and the Faculty of Law was one of the oldest departments in his University. He valued every opportunity to collaborate with CUPL, and wished to further the mutual understanding between the two sides. He hoped that he could learn a lot of constructive opinions and suggestions from his Chinese counterparts on the operating and upgrading of their cooperative projects. For instance, the two sides could focus their discussion on the possibility and feasibility of doing teamwork in the field of Sino-Germany criminal law studies.
Prof. Ma replied that CUPL has played a vital role in the process of criminal justice reform of China, and was deeply involved in every aspect of it. He expressed his appreciation for Prof. Scheiwer's praise of our university, and agreed to further consolidate the academic cooperation and exchange in this particular area.
After that, Prof. Gao Xiang, Dean of CUPL College of Comparative Law, shared his views with the German guests on questions of common interest, such as how to improve collaboration on teacher exchanges; how to co-host or jointly attend seminars; how to strengthen efforts to publicize and popularize CDIR in Germany; how to extend the validity period of a 2018 funding program, etc.
