On May 10^th, the second forum of national legal education, which invited many front-line teachers and famous scholars from different law schools, held successfully in KoGuan Building, Peking University Law School. The theme of this forum is postgraduate education, involving the education of postgraduates and doctors, the writing and publication of academic papers. What’s more, guests also discussed the topics like the position of academic postgraduate, the two-year system, the balance of practice and academy and so on.

The forum started at 8:30 a.m. Guo Li, the deputy dean of PKULS hosted the opening ceremony. Zhang Shouwen, dean of PKULS and Yan Chunhua, the executive vice-president of PKU Graduate School addressed respectively on the opening ceremony. Then, all guests on the forum took a group photo to mark this occasion.

The main forms of the forum are keynote speech, review and free discussion. The first topic is the education of master of law, hosted by A.P. Che Hao, the dean assistant of PKULS. During the keynote speech, Professor Chen Xingliang from PKULS explained the training of knowledge and methodology theory. Professor Song Xiao from Nanjing University Law School addressed on the purpose and model of master of laws education. Professor Wang Jian from law school of Northwest University of Politics and Law thinks highly of this forum and he explained the problem like categorization of education model and purpose from the perspective of regional structure of masters’ and doctors’ cultivation stations. Professor Li Jianghong from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law gives a brief explanation of problems and improving ways to postgraduates’ education.

In the review, Professor Wu Yong from China Youth College for political Sciences gives his own opinion on the proportion of academic master degree to doctor degree and the reform of educational system. Professor Ren Qiang from Sun Yat-Sen University pointed that Sun Yat-Sen University are also faced with the problem of two-year educational system and source of students. A.P Chen Ruoying for PKULS said that the school should give some help to students in seeking a job and should retain legal dignity by inwardly education. During the part of free discussion, Professor from Hainan University, Professor Cai Lidong from Jiling University, Professor Zuo Conghai from Nankai University and Zhou Jianghong from Zhejiang University lead a heated discussion on the topics like student sources, educational system, exployment and thesis training.

The forum continues at 1:30p.m. Professor Yang Ming from PKULS hosted the second part, which relates to the doctor education. In the keynote speech, Professor Fu Yulin introduced the special tutor and thesis system in PKULS, which raised a great response in the forum. Professor Wang Wei from Fudan University reviewed the great contribution made by PKULS in doctor education, and shared the experience of reform and improvement in doctor education in Fudan University. While Professor He Lixin from Xiamen University explained in details about the reform of doctor education of Xiamen University and pointed out the difficulties in refom. Professor Cai Lidong from Jilin University, Professor from China University of Political Science and Law and Professor Zhang Jianwei from Tsinghua University gave their opinions on reform respectively.

In the part of review, Professor Zuo Conghai from Nankai University, Professor Xiong Yuemin from Beijing Normal University, Professor Ge Weijun from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Professor Lou Jianbo from Peking University made a conclusion to the keynote speeches and shared their own experience in doctor education. In the free discussion, some teachers from Southwest University of Political Science and Law and East China University of Political Science and Law raised some questions concerning their law school. Teachers from Peking University and Xiamen University gave some suggestions to their problems.

After a short break, the forum started the third topic, i.e. writing and publication of academic papers, which is hosted by deputy dean of PKULS. In the keynote speeches, Professor Li Ying from Yantai University put forward the concerns about the qualities of thesis of LLM. Professor Bai Jianjun from Peking University attached great importance of big data in legal research and criticized the academic papers of LLM. In the part of review, Zhou Jianghong from Zhejiang University, Liu Jialiang from Shandong University, Gao Wei from ShangHai Jiaotong University and Ling Bin from Peking University gave splendid comments on the remarks.

On the closing ceremony, Pan Jianfeng, the Party Secretary and deputy dean of PKULS addressed a conclusion speech. Pan thinks highly of this forum and showed his gratitude to all teachers at present. He said that education is the core of a university and teachers in law should think about what we should do. At the same time, he also emphasized the importance of teaching atmosphere and put out some requirements in the teaching skills and attitudes. Finally, Pan solemnly read out the forum consensus signed by all universities at present. The consensus pointed out that even though there are some problems in legal education, the reform and improvement of legal education should keep up with the reform and opening-up process. It is essential to systemize and standardize the postgraduate education model. We should improve the writing skills in postgraduate education. All higher institutes should regard the model of LLM as a important task and take measures to change the ways of management. All higher institutes should endeavor to cultivate more talents in law to push forward the process of rule of law in China and realize our ideal.

The forum finished at 5:30p.m. During the forum, all guests expressed their opinions and shared their experiences. They analyzed the problems in a realistic manner and seek a practicable way to cultivate the students in LLM. With the joint efforts of all universities and guests, the basic consensus of current LLM education has taken a shape in the forum.

As the organizer, Peking University Law School prepared carefully made great efforts to improve the standard of this forum, devoting to build a platform of exchanges among law schools. We strongly hope that all law schools work together to support and safeguard the legal education exploration and make great contribution to rule of law in China.

Translated by: Tang Yaqi

Edited by: Fang Zhou