On June 17, 2019, an opening ceremony was held by the International Exchange Center on its city-center campus for the 2019 Shanghai Summer School (in Chinese Political and Legal Culture) and 2019 ECUPL Summer School, an effort of ECUPL to construct itself into a High-level University in Shanghai. This year, 32 students from 14 partner universities in 11 different countries and regions, including the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, the USA and Singapore, were going to participate in the three-week ECUPL Summer School. Additionally, participating in the Shanghai Summer School program, a four-week program funded by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and hosted by ECUPL, were 22 students from 11 schools and institutions in 10 countries, including Russia, India, Cambodia, Poland and Croatia. Professor Xia Fei, Director of the International Exchange Center, Mr. Lai Jinsheng, the Center’s Deputy Director, and Professor Ma He attended the opening ceremony.
Professor Xia Fei gave a brief introduction to ECUPL and warmly welcomed all the students who had come from afar. She said that Shanghai is a glamorous city offering students endless cultural experiences. As the "Oriental Pearl of Legal Education", ECUPL has more than 30 years of experience in teaching law in English. She hoped that, during their time here, all participants would be able to enjoy the charm of Shanghai and ECUPL, and wished them a wonderful time here.
Professor Ma He greeted and welcomed the students in their native languages on behalf of all the teachers. Speaking in a humorous and lively manner, he encouraged the students to learn more about Chinese culture and law, and through comparison with their foreign counterparts, he hoped they would improve their academic performance and deepen their thoughts on this subject.
Student representatives from the ECUPL Summer School and the Shanghai Summer School also gave speeches. Both of them had previously studied in China (one of them studied in ECUPL), and as they described their experiences they expressed their love for Chinese culture and their excitement of participating in these programs. They hoped that all members could “work as one” to help each other and make progress together.
The ECUPL Summer School is a signature program established by International Exchange Center in 2015 and is open to all global partners of the university. ECUPL’s celebrated teachers are invited to give classes in English to students from all over the world about Chinese law and culture. The program also organizes visits to legal institutions, including people’s courts and law firms, and the students can also participate in cultural activities. Through strengthening the interaction between the teachers and students at ECUPL and its partner universities, we will expand the scale and improve the level of our education for international students. This will enable us to form a balanced reciprocal system for inter-university student exchanges, promote Chinese legal culture and civilization, build a communication platform for young law students who share much in common, and facilitate the development of ECUPL towards its goal of establishing itself as a world renowned university.
The Shanghai Summer School (in Chinese Political and Legal Culture) is a scholarship program funded by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and run by ECUPL. From June to July every year since 2016, it has been held for four weeks at ECUPL Changning Campus, mainly for students from countries that participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. Centered on Chinese legal and political thought and culture, it integrates teaching, discussion, and student presentations with cultural tours and visits, so that students can learn and think about comparing different systems and cultures.
After six months of meticulous preparation, these two programs were opened at our university with great success. It is a great step for our university to promote internationalization, to actively adapt to the country’s demand for students with global vision, and to incorporate itself with China and Shanghai’s development policies. This program is helpful to the promotion of Chinese legal culture regarding the rule of law, the basic function of ECUPL as an international cooperation and exchange initiator, and to the improvement of this university’s international influence and reputation.
