At 9 a.m. on April 11, 2017, President Yvon Englert of Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), President Caroline Pauwels of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and their parties were warmly received by CUPL President Huang Jin at the Haidian Campus. CUPL Vice President Ma Huaide and several heads of departments attended the meeting.
After a sincere welcome, President Huang Jin recalled his visit to ULB. He pointed out that since its establishment in 1952, CUPL has developed from a single-discipline institute of law into a multidisciplinary university with a competitive advantage in law and other disciplines including political science, economics, sociology, management science, literature, history, and philosophy. It is appraised as a top institution of legal education, as well as a prestigious university for the humanities and social sciences. In particular, the China-EU School of Law in CUPL (CESL), founded in 2008, is viewed as a remarkable achievement of international cooperation in joint school operations. President Huang Jin hoped to strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation, establish a comprehensive cooperative mechanism, promote academic exchanges, and expand disciplinary exchanges.
Yvon Englert firstly thanked CUPL for the warm reception, and then gave a detailed introduction about the history of ULB and VUB and described the scale and international cooperation of ULB. He emphasized the importance of staff exchanges and expressed that both parties should strengthen cooperation among the other humanities and social sciences besides law, expand the channels of student exchanges, and deepen joint programs for doctoral candidates.
Caroline Pauwels said that VUB attached great importance to international development and scientific research. She hoped to develop a good partnership and have more cooperation with CUPL in the fields of doctoral training and scientific research exchanges.
Vice President Ma Huaide briefly introduced programs of international cooperation and exchanges in CUPL, and reviewed the partnerships established between CUPL and ULB. He suggested that academic exchanges and visits should focus on four aspects: increasing the number of students enrolled in exchange programs, expanding exchanges and cooperation from law to more disciplines, developing long-term staff exchanges and cooperation programs, and organizing more academic conferences and seminars.
Finally, President Huang Jin signed the Agreement on the Double Degree PhD program with President Yvon Englert of ULB, and the Memorandum of Understanding on Inter-university Cooperation with President Caroline Pauwels of VUB.
