The Symposium on the Student Training of the Internationalised Legal Talents Experimental Class was held on Xueyuanlu Campus on the afternoon of 29 Oct, 2021.
Vice President of the University Chang Baoguo, Executive Deputy Dean of the Graduate School Lu Chunlong, Deputy Dean of the Graduate School Wang Zhenfeng and He Xin, Assistant to the Dean & Director of the Training Office of the School Xiao Baoxing, Director of the Office of Degree Management of the School Wan Qing came to the College of Comparative Law for research.
Dean of the College Xie Zhiyong, Chair of the College Council Wang Fang, Associate Dean Xie Libin, Associate Dean Liu Chengwei, supervisors Zhu Mingzhe, Pan Deng and Mou Xiankui who use various languages in the experimental class, Director of the College Administrative Office Liu Ming, Student Tutor Yang Mingquan, Staff of Academic Sun Yang and four students from the class Cang Qiong, Ma Haiyang, Rong Chengjie and Xu Ziyue participated in the discussion. Wang Fang moderated the meeting.
On behalf of the College, Wang Fang first extended a warm welcome to Vice President Chang Baoguo and the leaders of the Graduate School for their visit to the College. She also thanked the leaders of the University for their support and concern for the work of the internationalised legal talents experimental class.
Lu Chunlong introduced the main objectives of the research. He pointed out that this year the University has started to rely on the College of Comparative Law and the School of International Law to set up an experimental class on the directions of national law in Russian, French, Japanese, Spanish and Italian languages and on the direction of international law in English, and the aim of it is to train high-end legal talents who are proficient in both foreign language and law with unique characteristics of the University and to better serve the needs of the country's construction of the foreign-related rule of law. Lu further explained that it is a new challenge for the University's talents training whether the students can lay a good foundation of law and do a good job in the research of national law. He said that this research would focus on the training scheme of the experimental class of the College, the operation of these two months since the beginning of this term, the problems and difficulties encountered at present, and they would listen to the students' personal feelings after two months of studying. He also claimed that the Graduate School would assist the College as much as possible to solve problems and to ensure that the training of personnel in the class goes on the right track.
Xie Zhiyong reported the work of the experimental class. He first introduced the admission of the class in the past two years, the curriculum design, the teacher allocation and other basic information. The College set up a special leading group and the Dean personally is the head teacher of the class. The whole College attached great importance to the training of experimental classes. Xie then focused on the training goal of the class that students become high-quality international legal personnel with a solid foundation in law, a solid foundation in language and a broad international vision. The students had already begun to study under the guidance of the tutors before they entered the College. After the first two months, the students were in an ideal state of study. Xie also introduced several future ideas, including the establishment of Foreign-Related Legal Talent Laboratory, the enhancement of the formulation of overseas studying programs and the expansion of enrollment.
The four students shared their learning experience since they entered the university. They emphasized that the learning atmosphere was good, the class was rich, the teachers were knowledgeable and they achieved a lot. They also suggested that there are many problems in study and life, such as intense modules, vague forms of assessment, less time for extra-curricular study and hardship in attending international programs.
The teachers also raised the problems like difficult allocation of teachers and heavy teaching burden, and put forward some suggestions for the work of curriculum setting, overseas exchange, foreign teacher employment, teacher assessment, enrollment and employment. The university leadership affirmed and supported some of the opinions on the spot.
Wang Zhenfeng suggested that the training objectives and orientation of the experimental class should be further refined, and the students' personal development and wishes should be fully considered, so as to enrich the training contents and give the students the space to make their own choices. He Xin pointed out that nearly 100% of the students in the experimental class are excellent, steadily improving the student quality of the College, and that the advantages of student resources should be better utilized in the future. Xiao Baoxing and Wan Qing put forward pertinent suggestions on core module substitution, elective module and credit adjustment.
In his concluding remarks, Chang Baoguo pointed out that the preparatory work for the experimental class programme of the College is solid and the work of personnel training runs smoothly, which should be highly affirmed. He put forward several requirements and suggestions on the next training work,
“The cycle of foreign-related legal personnel training is long and the cost is high, we need to think comprehensively and plan for long-term. The training objectives of the students should be further defined and precise and the training programmes should be set up for different countries. The curriculum system should embody the training requirements of foreign-related legal talents and the characteristics of national laws, and the cultivation of students' foreign language ability, legal professional level and cross-cultural communication ability should be embodied through curriculum design. Credit setting should be scientific and moderate. Stable high-level teaching staff should be formed through various ways, and the establishment of national law database should be accelerated to support the work of personnel training and foreign law ascertainment base.”
Chang Baoguo claimed that the university will strengthen the coordination and sharing of resources for the training of foreign-related legal talents and offer a solid guarantee for the training in such aspects as the employment of foreign teachers, the construction of shared courses and extra-curricular resources, the purchase of professional literatures and certain internship opportunities.
