The School of Law, Chongqing University, founded in 1945, was one of the six founding colleges (Art, Science, Engineering, Business, Law, and Medicine) of Chongqing University. At the time, the School of Law consisted of the Faculty of Law, the Department of Economics, and the Department of Politics, with Mr. ZHAI Jinfu, Professor LUO Zhiru, and Professor PAN Dakui serving as Dean. The famous international jurist, Mr. WANG Tieya, also taught at the School. In 1952, however, with various changes in the structure of education in China, the School of Law was separated from Chongqing University, and, along with other regional colleges, established Southwest University of Political Science and Law. In 1995, Chongqing University resumed undergraduate enrollment in law under the School of Trade and Law and the School of Law was formally established in 1998. In 2002 these schools merged to form the School of Law and also established the MA qualification of environmental and resource protection law. The School relies on the advantages of the comprehensive disciplines of the university and the opportunities provided by the national211 Project,985 Project and Double First Classuniversity programmes, vigorously promoting discipline construction, legal education, high-level research and community service.
At present our college offers two undergraduate majors (law and intellectual property law), a masters of law, doctorate of law, and post-doctorate of law. Our undergraduate programme in law is a specialty of the University, included as one of the majors in the university’sThree Special Action Plan (三特行动计划), selected in both the first batch ofExcellent Legal Talent Training Bases (卓越法律人才培养基地) and also in theMinistry of Education Extracurricular Practice Base (教育部老员工校外实践基地) construction project, and as a first-class major of Chongqing. Furthermore, our first-level law disciplines are key disciplines in Chongqing's 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans and are considered one among the key disciplines for further development at Chongqing University. The School ranked 11th in China according to the Ministry of Education’s disciplinary assessment with a B+ rating. The college has established research and teaching specialties in the fields of environmental and resource protection law, intellectual property law, economic law, jurisprudence, criminal law, civil and commercial law, constitutional and administrative law, and international law. Our faculty, comprised of top legal scholars, have established a legal education and research base, with some significant focus in western China. The college has approximately 400 undergraduates, 500 postgraduates, 130 doctoral candidates and 10 postdoctoral candidates.
Development Path
Since its establishment, the School of Law has developed in leaps and strides, sometimes locally referred to as the Chongqing University Law School Phenomenon (重大法学现象). In 2005, the School established the PhD programme in environmental and resource protection law. In 2006, the master's degree program of law (LLM) was established and, in 2007, the Master of Law degree (JM) was established. In 2008, the law discipline became the only major recognized underProject 211in western China. In 2009 the School established the post-doctoral programme, and the undergraduate law major became a distinguished programme of Chongqing province. In 2010, our law major was included in Project 985 of Chongqing University and in 2011 our doctoral of law programme was recognized as a first-level discipline and a key discipline of Chongqing province. In 2012, our first-level discipline ranked 11th in the nation according to the Ministry of Education’s disciplinary assessment, and, according to the 2012 ranking by China University Graduate School, the discipline of environment and resource protection law (2nd level discipline) ranked first in the country. In 2015, after a comprehensive examination, our law programme was accepted in the 12th Five Year Plan of Chongqing. Furthermore, the School and the Ministry of Architecture successfully applied for the distinctive subject group of Chongqing, and the first-level discipline of law was listed as a “first-class discipline for cultivation”. Furthermore, the environmental and resource protection law discipline team joined the Chinese Law Society “Environmental Resources Rule of Law Research Group”, a National Think Tank. In 2017, the first-level discipline of law was approved in the Chongqing 13th Five Year Plan and ranked as B+ class in the Ministry of Education’s fourth round of evaluation.
The School of Law
Through extensive cultivation, the college has established an outstanding faculty. At present, the School has a total of 70 full-time teachers, including 27 professors, 25 associate professors, 24 doctoral supervisors, and 47 master's supervisors. More than 85% of our faculty have doctoral degrees, and more than 70% have overseas study experience. Three of our faculty members are among the Ministry of Education’s New Century Excellent Talents (新世纪优秀人才), one is a consultant of the Chongqing Municipal Government, two Bayu Scholars (巴渝学者), three outstanding young legal experts of Chongqing (重庆市优秀中青年法学专家), and one of the top ten outstanding young people in Chongqing (重庆市十大优秀中青年法学工作人才).
Members of our faculty have served in a variety of prestigious positions, including as reviewers of the National Social Science Fund, vice president of the national first or second-level society (全国性一级或二级学会副), academic and technical leaders at the provincial and ministerial levels, and expert consultants, including three vice presidents of the national first-level society (全国一级学会副) , six vice presidents of the National Second Class Institute (全国二级学会副), nine expert consultants at the provincial and ministerial level, five legislative advisory experts of Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, and 25 arbitrators of the Municipal Arbitration Commission.
Student and Faculty Development
As we strive to provide a high-quality legal education, our faculty focusses on the ethical education of our students. Through our teaching and research, the School aims to closely address the needs of society and strives to provide both a theoretical and applied legal education so as to create quality legal talents with a solid understanding of legal fundamentals, as well as a familiarity with practice and an innovative spirit.
In fulfillment of this, the School has an innovative teaching team, a legal practice teaching center, a student legal aid center, two mock courts, and multiple case discussion rooms. It has three national and provincial-level courses and has won multiple Chongqing Teaching Achievement Awards. The School of Law has signed cooperation agreements with more than 60 other institutions, including the Chongqing Higher People's Court and has established 26 legal education practice bases in Chongqing and across China, including Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi and Shenzhen.
Since 2000, the School of Law has edited and published more than 50 professional textbooks, including: College Textbooks for Law Majors in Higher Education (高等院校法学专业系列课程教材), 21st Century Chinese Law Textbook Series (21世纪中国高校法学系列教材), The National ‘Eleventh Five-Year Plan’ Textbooks (国家“十一五”规划教材), Country Master of Law, Professional Degree, Postgraduate Planning Textbook (国家法律硕士专业学位研究生规划教材),College of Core Science Courses in Higher Education (高等学校法学核心课程教材系列), Law in the 21st Century (21世纪法学通用教材), and Quality National Course Materials(国家精品课程教材) . Some of our faculty’s textbooks, including the National Cyberspace Security Legal Protection Mechanism Research (国家网络空间安全法律保障机制研究) series have been selected as key books for the national13th Five-Year Plan (国家“十三五”重点规划出版图书).
International Cooperation
The School of Law attaches great importance to foreign exchange and cooperation. In pursuit of this, the School of Law has signed cooperation agreements with a variety of universities, most recently the School of Law, Ohio State University and the School of Law, University of California-Davis. In recent years the School has received multiple international scholars, including Professor Adriana Aguena (School of Law, University of California-Davis), Professor Gregory N. Mande (School of Law, Temple University), Professor Andrew Johnston (School of Law, University of Sheffield), Professor Caroline O'Connell (School of Law, Ohio State University), and Professor Therese Wilson (School of Law, Griffith University). Each visited the School of Law, held academic lectures, and discussed academic exchange and cooperation. The college encourages our faculty members to visit and study at universities abroad, and regularly sends students on overseas exchange In 2018, the School sent five teachers for overseas exchange, and 46 students participated in international cooperation and exchange programs, and studied for foreign degrees. The School strongly supports our Jessup debate team which has achieved outstanding results in the Jessup International Law Moot Court competition in recent years, winning two national first prizes, one national second prize, and qualifying for the 2017 and 2019 international rounds in Washington DC. In the 2017 global finals our team won ninth place in the world's best written pleadings.
Faculty Research
The college has a strong legal research ability, exemplified by fruitful research results. The college has one national "985" research institute, and two provincial-level research institutes – theWestern Environmental Resource Protection Legal Research Center (西部环境资源保护法制研究中心) and the Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Intellectual Property Research Center (太阳成集团国家网络空间安全与大数据法治战略研究院). Furthermore, the college has led the establishment of the Chongqing University National Cyberspace Security and Big Data Rule of Law Research Institute (太阳成集团国家网络空间安全与大数据法治战略研究院). Their report,China Big Data Transaction Compliance Survey Report (中国大数据交易合规性调查报告), was evaluated as the 2017 CTTI Think Tank High-Quality Result (2017CTTI来源智库精品成果).
The college currently administers 34 national-level projects (including 5 major projects of the National Social Science Fund), two international science and technology cooperation projects, more than 180 provincial-level projects, and more than 190 consultancy projects. The college has published more than 1,700 papers, over 1000 of which have been published in important Chinese journals. Our faculty have published more than 20 papers in top-level, authoritative journals such asChina Social Science (中国社会科学), China Law (中国法学) and Law Research (法学研究), more than 80 monographs and more than 20 translated texts. Our faculty’s research has won various awards, including second prize and three third prizes of the Ministry of Education Science and Technology Outstanding Achievement Award – Humanities and Social Sciences, third prize of the Qian Duansheng Legal Achievement Award (钱端升法学成果奖), and more than 30 provincial and ministerial research awards.
Last Updated: February, 2019
