Observing the important remarks made by General Secretary Xi Jinping on education and focusing on the key tasks of morality education and serving major national strategies, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) has launched “Five Major Projects” to embrace the world. With an open and inclusive attitude, the university is actively enhancing its international presence and influence through the dual track approach of “going global” while “bringing in international resources”. The goals of the “Five Major Projects” are to establish the internationalization concept in education and administration, to innovate the international education mechanism, and ultimately to build CUPL into a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.
The Strategic Partnership Project for high-level exchanges and cooperation. To improve the quality and quantity of international cooperation programs, CUPL has set up the steering group of foreign affairs to advance the substantial academic exchanges and cooperation with world-class universities and top research institutes. CUPL and St. Edmund's Hall of Oxford University in the United Kingdom entered into a cooperation agreement, focusing on in-depth cooperation in faculty and student exchanges. CUPL has played an active role in the establishment and operation of the China-EU School of Law (CESL), which was jointly initiated by the Chinese government and the European Union. CUPL offers the Double Master's Degree Program in International Law, aiming at cultivating high-caliber talents for foreign-related legal services. CUPL has actively engaged in the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) by carrying out academic exchanges and cooperation with 45 universities in 20 countries along the BRI. Up to now, CUPL has entered into collaborative relations with 283 universities and international organizations in 54 countries and regions, and has conducted substantive cooperation with 186 universities.
The High-end Platform Project for attracting quality resources. CUPL strives to introduce the Chinese rule of law to the world, to tell Chinese stories well, and to make China’s voice better heard. CUPL launched the Legal Center for the “Belt and Road Initiative” to provide legal consultation for the BRI. The UNEP-CUPL Center for Environmental Law Research has been set up to offer strategic counseling for China's engagement in the international legal cooperation for environment law and to contribute wisdom for the advancement of the international environment law. CUPL has fully leveraged discipline advantages to enhance its international influence in various ways. The university has set up four Confucius Institutes in the UK, Romania, Barbados and Norway. It has actively engaged in initiating several academic organizations for legal education such as the Law Schools Global League and the Asian Law Institute, as well as over a dozen international research institutes such as the China-Swiss Joint Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. CUPL has joined hands with Washington University, St. Louis to establish the Platform for the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Program, serving as an important base for the cultivation of high-end talents for foreign-related legal services in China. CUPL has also set up the Project Office of German Universities in China to give firm support to Sino-Germany and Sino-EU cultural and academic exchanges.
The Study Abroad Project for high-caliber international talents. Committed to inclusive, international, multidisciplinary and innovative programs for the cultivation of international talents, CUPL has constantly reinforced its international talent cultivation. CUPL encourages its students to "go global", to develop international vision, and to enhance global competitiveness, by providing them opportunities such as international exchange programs, overseas internships, international conferences and international competitions. Every year, more than 1,000 students are sent abroad for exchange and visit through the Study Abroad Project. CUPL keeps exploring new and innovative approaches for international talent cultivation. It has introduced the bachelor-to-Ph.D. program for international talents, the 142-credit international exchange programs for undergraduates, the Overseas Master’s Scholarship Program jointly launched by CUPL and some 58 world-renowned universities such as the National University of Singapore, as well as the 39 high-level programs for doctoral students jointly launched by CUPL and 36 prestigious universities such as the University of Bologna in Italy.
The Faculty Exchange Project for high-level teaching team. CUPL attaches great importance to young and middle-aged faculty. A number of documents have been released, such as the Special Overseas Exchange Funding for Young and Middle-Aged Key Faculty and the Implementation Measures for Special Overseas Exchange Funding for Young and Middle-Aged Key Faculty to promise institutional guarantee for young and middle-aged faculty to go abroad for training. Thanks to domestic and international channels such as the China Scholarship Council, inter-university exchange platforms and university alliances, we have forged an international platform to nurture professional and internationalized faculty and administration teams featuring reasonable structures and high quality. Such internationalized faculty have been active in the international academic frontier, and are equipped with solid professional knowledge and great teaching capacity. Some professors have been selected and sent to visit and study in top universities abroad. They have conducted teaching and accepted administrative training in universities including the University of California Los Angeles and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Owing to the EU Erasmus+ program, we have accomplished faculty exchanges with nine EU universities, such as the University of Bordeaux IV in France. In the past three years, more than 400 teachers have been sent abroad for training, lecturing and exchanges, which further optimized the academic structure of our faculty.
The Welcoming to CUPL Project for high-quality education. Benchmarking the international frontier of discipline development and relying on our national key disciplines, CUPL has entered into high-level, high-caliber and high-quality international cooperation with world first-class standards. CUPL has given full play of the talented faculty to support and lead the construction of a "Double-First Class" university and disciplines. The China-EU School of Law (CESL) has received a total of 320 lecturers and visiting professors from 13 European partners, such as KU Leuven in Belgium. The International Semester launched by CESL involves more than 240 foreign experts and offers nearly 500 international courses attended by a total of more than 15,000 students every year. CESL offers six law degree programs at the graduate level in English, such as the Master's Program in Comparative Law and the Master's Program in Chinese Law. With these programs, CESL has turned itself into a remarkable platform for the cultivation of international legal talents in China. A large number of world-renowned foreign professors have been invited by CUPL to offer international courses such as Global Governance and Rule of Law and International Trade and Investment. An innovative team of Chinese and foreign law experts has been formed to achieve the synergy of intellectual cooperation and interdisciplinary research, thus contributing the Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for global governance. CUPL carries on enhancing international collaborative innovation and attracting high-quality faculty from abroad to lay a solid foundation for promoting its high-quality development in the future.
