East China University of Political Science and Law

Founded in 1952, East China University of Political Science and Law was among the first higher education institutions in political science and law established by the People’s Republic of China. It is a multidisciplinary university emphasizing law, alongside political science, economics, management, literature and other fields. Its law discipline is rated A by the Ministry of Education, and it is known as the “Oriental Pearl of Legal Education.” In Shanghai, China’s economic center, it has Changning and Songjiang campuses covering more than 750000 square meters.

It has more than 18000 students of all types, over 1200 faculty and staff, 21 schools or departments and more than 160 research institutions. Its over 1000 full-time teachers include nearly 400 with senior professional and technical appointments. It received excellent ratings in both the 2002 and 2008 Ministry of Education undergraduate teaching evaluations. Postgraduate education began in 1981, and in 1995 it was approved among the country’s first pilot institutions to recruit professional Juris Master students. Its postgraduate structure has developed into one body with two wings: law at the core, with economics and management developing alongside it and coordinated academic and professional degrees.

International cooperation continues to deepen. It has long-term partnerships with nearly 150 overseas universities and research institutions and 3 Chinese-foreign cooperative education programs. In 2012, it qualified to receive Chinese Government Scholarship international students. In 2014, it became one of six universities receiving the Chinese Government Excellence Scholarship. It currently has nearly 800 international students in undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, specialist visiting and Chinese-language programs from more than 50 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Russia, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Turkey, Ghana, Cabo Verde and Côte d’Ivoire. Both campuses have dedicated international student residences. The centrally located Changning campus is near the Zhongshan Park and Jing’an commercial districts and metro lines 2, 3, 4 and 11.

The university publishes core legal journals including Law Science and the Journal of East China University of Political Science and Law. Its library holds 2.4 million printed volumes, more than 1500 Chinese and foreign newspapers and periodicals, 92 databases and 1.3 million electronic books. It is eastern China’s largest legal documentation center, with its Chinese and foreign legal databases ranked first among China’s law universities.

At this new starting point, it will seize strategic opportunities in national comprehensive educational reform, establish an overall development framework of four beams and eight pillars, and uphold openness, international engagement and innovation. It will deepen development through teaching, scholarship and talent and build a structure of first-class law and multidisciplinary integration. Its path comprises two bases–high-level legal and law-related talent development, and research in law and related disciplines–two centers–Chinese and foreign legal documentation, and Chinese rule-of-law strategy research–and one platform for Internet+ legal big data. It will improve reforms, advance collaborative innovation, maintain law-based university governance and substantive development, and gradually become a high-level applied research university that is internationally known, nationally leading, first-class in law, multidisciplinary, distinctive and innovative, promoting progress in the rule of law and offering an inspiring scholarly environment.