European-Chinese cooperation in higher education

The example of the China-EU School of Law (CESL)

China began cooperations with foreign universities in the late 1980s and has since that time established a number of cooperation projects and joint study programmes with several universities from abroad. The creation and opening of an international school on Chinese soil, however, is a special case. This is even more true when the educational focus of that school concerns law and legal education. The only law school jointly run by Europeans and Chinese to date is the China-EU School of Law. The author intends to shed light on the creation of that school. The overall objectives of the Sino-European law school and the academic programmes and activities aiming at educating students as well as legal professionals in China and Europe will be portrayed. In addition, the managerial and legal framework will be referred to. Finally, first conclusions will be drawn with regard to the achievements so far.