China University of Political Science and Law

The largest seat of higher learning in the field of legal studies, the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) was established in 1952. It has been twice ranked as the second best law graduate school in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the government surveys undertaken in 2009 and 2012. It has been playing a nodal role in furthering legal education, training and research in the country.

MOTTO

The university’s motto (translated into English) is ‘Cherish the Moral, Understand the Law, Know the World, and Serve the Public.”

NOMENCLATURE

The university was earlier known as the Peking College of Political Science and Law. It was renamed as the ‘Beijing College of Political Science and Law (BCPSL).

TRACING THE ROOTS

The CUPL was constituted by amalgamating a number of departments of four esteemed universities spread across the country. The departments were as varied as sociology, political science, and law besides others. These schools were chosen from the following universities: the Fu Jen Catholic University, the Peking University, the Tsinghua University, and the Yenching University.

However, the university had to close down during the Cultural Revolution in China. It was in 1983 that BCPSL was upgraded to the rank of a university and rechristened ‘China University of Political Science and Law’. The institution’s Changpin campus was introduced during the country’s Seventh Five-Year Plan in 1985.

FOUNDER PRESIDENT

The first president of the new education entity was Harvard alumni Chien Tuan-Sheng who was not only a prominent academic but also the pioneer of modern political science studies in PRC. He expired in 1990.

CAMPUS

The university has two campuses. The original one is in Haidan while the more sprawling varsity ground is located at Changping in Beijing. The former location caters to the postgraduate courses whereas the latter on the outer fringe of Beijing primarily deals with the undergraduate schools.

CONTRIBUTIONS

• The China University of Political Science and Law or CUPL is the first Chinese university to introduce the following five specialties: Civil and Commercial Law, Comparative Law, Economic Law, Legal History, and Procedure Law.


• It has initiated major steps to popularize Roman law in the country.


• During the course of its 62 years of existence, the ‘China University of Political Science and Law’ has produced more than three lakhs of graduates in the legal profession. Many of them have become eminent professionals.


• The students of the university have also taken active part in the democratic movements in the Communist country. Mention can be made of their large-scale participation in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989 in support of rule of law and democracy.

GLOBAL TIEUPS

The university has been conducting educational exchange programs with a number of foreign universities. A notable aspect of its international academic courses is with one of the programs sponsored by a prominent bar organizations of USA – the American Bar Association. This pact between the CUPL and the Duquesne University School of Law was launched in 1995. This understanding between the American and the Chinese seats of law researches actually opened the age-old Chinese legal practices to the legal scholars of the Oriental nations.

In 2008, the CUPL and the Fordham University School of Law launched an educational exchange program. Similar programs are also on with the following six universities:

The University of California, the Davis School of Law, the Deakin University in Australia, the University of Exeter, the University of Montreal in Canada, and the University of Oxford in England.

Academic & Department

• Law School


• School of Civil, Commercial and Economic Laws


• School of International Law


• School of Criminal and Judicatory Law


• School of Political Science and Public Administration


• Business School


• School of Sociology


• School of Humanities


• Marxism School


• School of Foreign Languages


• Schlool of Journalism and Media


• School of American and Comparative Law


• School of German and Comparative Law


• School of International Education


• School of Continuing Education


• School of Master of Laws


• School of Judicial Examination


• Department of Science and Technology


• Physical Education Department


• International School of Confucianists


• School of EU and Comparative Law