1. Update educational concepts and improve quality education and training models. Adhere to a series of modern educational concepts such as "quality education", "personality", "multi-dimensional", "cutting edge", "students as the main body and teachers as the leader". The problem in the field of legal education is how to manifest it. To this end, we have always implemented: first, "wide caliber", merging the original seven majors of law into one major; second, "thick foundation", requiring the expansion of students' knowledge through the penetration of liberal arts and sciences and the intersection of disciplines; third, Teach students in accordance with their aptitude and give full play to students' autonomy; fourth, fully implement the "credit system"; fifth, based on the fourteen core courses of the law major determined by the state, our school has added two other important courses: environmental law and human rights law, and expanded elective courses; sixth, highlight the practical link and improve the practice base to make law, a highly practical subject, worthy of its name.
2. Cultivate students’ comprehensive qualities and cultivate internationally competitive legal talents. Pay attention to the comprehensive improvement of the following qualities:
(1) Legal ethics. The ideological qualities that legal professionals must possess should at least include: the professional purpose of making legislation for the public and enforcing the law for the people; the lofty ideal of pursuing truth and safeguarding justice; advocating the law and firmly believing that the law is supreme; identifying with professional ethics and abiding by the self-discipline spirit of professional ethics. (2) Cultural quality. A legal person should have a broad knowledge background, tool skills (such as foreign languages ??and computer skills) and interpersonal skills. (3) Physical and mental quality. A healthy body and a good mind are inevitable requirements for the legal profession. (4) Legal quality. Legal quality includes legal thinking ability, legal expression ability and legal fact exploration ability, among which legal thinking ability is the core. Legal thinking ability includes the ability to accurately grasp legal concepts, the ability to correctly establish and grasp legal propositions and legal reasoning, and the ability to demonstrate upcoming legal rulings or legal opinions.
3. We insist on taking undergraduate courses as the basis and establishing the central position of teaching. Improving the quality of legal education is an eternal theme in the development of law schools. Adhering to the goal of educating people, putting education quality first, and doing our best to improve teaching quality are the foundation for the survival and development of the school. By establishing a new concept of quality and a new school-running philosophy, we will establish international consciousness and global consciousness, and meet the challenges of economic globalization, education internationalization, and legal internationalization with international and competitive legal education. In the context of my country's accession to the WTO, we should gradually establish a concept of quality, rule of law, competition and efficiency that is in line with international standards, enhance the development awareness, service awareness, competition awareness and quality awareness of all faculty and staff, and improve the role of legal education in educational competition. comprehensive strength and adaptability.
Through continuous optimization and repeated revisions, the college has formed a talent training program for undergraduates in law and sociology that takes theoretical knowledge as the starting point, aims at comprehensive development, and uses innovation ability as the breakthrough point. In terms of training objectives, on the basis of cultivating basic knowledge and skills, the focus is on cultivating students' analytical and expression skills, so that they can become senior professionals capable of engaging in various legal practices, sociological work and related occupations. In terms of professional characteristics and training requirements, it emphasizes basic training, standardized analysis and practical abilities, and emphasizes integration with international standards and the advantages of internationalization and globalization. In terms of curriculum design, three major sections have been formed: general courses, professional courses, and professional basic courses. In particular, on the basis of fourteen core courses, a curriculum system that combines comprehensive and professional, theoretical and practical, intellectual and innovative has been implemented, the proportion of elective courses has been increased, and high-level, high-level courses that cannot be offered in ordinary colleges and universities have been established. Professional elective courses.
Constructing a new talent training model in accordance with the requirements for the coordinated development of knowledge, ability, and quality is a new topic facing higher education in the new century. The rapid development of society and the implementation of the strategy of governing the country according to law have put forward new and higher requirements for higher legal education.
In order to adapt to the needs of the new situation, our school is based on reality and faces the future, extensively draws on the experience of domestic and foreign law schools, integrates existing academic education resources, fully absorbs various social resources, and carries out reforms and innovations in both classroom teaching and extracurricular practice. It attempts to transform traditional "academic" legal education into a vocational education model that combines theory and practice to cultivate high-quality legal talents. It not only strictly and systematically teaches students the necessary legal knowledge and cultivates students' skills and methods to flexibly apply law, but also attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' lofty legal concepts and the edification of legal sentiments. Continuously optimize the knowledge structure, strengthen practical ability, comprehensively improve the comprehensive quality of students, and cultivate a group of strong-foundation, wide-calibre, compound, and high-level legal talents urgently needed for the construction of the national legal system. By 2014, our school had formed three major characteristics of education in terms of innovative teaching concepts, reformed training models, and enriched knowledge structures.
1. Protection Center for the Rights and Interests of the Weak in Society - "Unity of Knowledge and Action" to serve the society.
The life of the law lies in its application. In order for the value and function of law to truly come into play in reality, from text to society and to citizen life, we must pay attention to the cultivation of students' quality and ability to use law. Our school adheres to the educational policy of combining theory with practice and has always attached great importance to practical education in law. On May 20, 1992, Professor Wan Exiang of Wuhan University Law School (former Vice President of the Supreme Court and current Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress) initiated the establishment of the first private legal aid organization in China? Wuhan University’s Center for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Disadvantaged in Society regards it as an educational practice base for the law school to practice the concept of “unity of knowledge and action, serving the society”.
Since its establishment, the center has been adhering to the purpose of "pursuing social justice and using the best legal professionals to provide the best legal services to those who need legal help most in accordance with the law." "Putting the rule of law first and caring for society" as its mission, and has gained a high reputation at home and abroad by virtue of its professionalism, quality and effective work. The State Council, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Justice, and the Municipal Youth League Committee have successively awarded the "National Advanced Collective for Poverty Alleviation and Assistance for the Disabled", "The First National Outstanding Youth Volunteer Collective", "The Second National Advanced Legal Aid Collective", "National Youth Volunteer Demonstration Site", etc. Honorary title. There are six departments in the center of our school, including the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Department, the Elderly Protection Department, the Disabled Persons' Protection Department, the Minors' Rights and Interests Protection Department, the Labor Rights and Interests Protection Department, and the Administrative Litigation Department. It also jointly opened a hotline for the protection of the rights and interests of female workers with the Provincial Women's Federation and the Provincial Federation of Trade Unions.
The center provides legal services and assistance in a variety of forms, including answering inquiries (telephone conversations, replying to letters, receiving visitors, etc.). ), agency in litigation cases, agency in non-litigation cases (including civil mediation, out-of-court settlement, labor arbitration cases, etc.) and legal education. Since its establishment, the center has received more than 30,000 consultations, more than 30,000 telephone consultations, responded to more than 20,000 consultation letters, and organized many publicity, education and consultation activities on street enforcement laws. The center has handled more than 1,500 cases, most of which have been successful and has won widespread praise from the parties and society. Famous jurists and law school professors Han Depei, Professor Yu Nengbin, and Professor Zeng serve as legal advisors to the center, which has greatly improved the center's visibility and social credibility. The center also actively organizes or participates in external exchanges. Experts and scholars from the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and other countries have visited the center many times and conducted various forms of exchange visits. Core members of the center have also visited these countries many times. Through exchanges and cooperation and learning from each other's strengths, the center has developed further and its popularity has gradually expanded abroad.
The center has achieved positive social effects in providing legal services and assistance to the society, and has also built a solid and broad practice platform for law students. Relying on the "center", the college organizes students to carry out legal publicity in backward and poor areas and carry out "legal poverty alleviation"; it organizes students to carry out legal volunteer activities, conduct special research and write investigation reports; it organizes nearly 500 student volunteers to provide services at the center Legal services. They help battered women embark on a path to independence, obtain valuable compensation for children who were accidentally disabled, and help blind people find a place to live. These legal practices not only deepen and consolidate students' basic professional knowledge, but also exercise students' practical legal skills and enhance students' perceptual understanding of major issues in the construction of my country's democratic and legal system. The center's practical teaching has achieved fruitful results.
The School of Law has been rated as an advanced unit for summer social practice for five consecutive years. Two people have been rated as advanced individuals for social practice at the provincial level. Nearly 20 teams have been rated as provincial and school-level outstanding practice teams. The practical works of nearly 100 teams have been awarded by the school. Level Outstanding Achievement Award.
2. Legal clinic education - a classroom with no standard answers.
Legal clinic education is people-oriented practical education. It is a legal education model that integrates knowledge transfer, ability cultivation, and quality improvement into clinic classrooms to achieve an organic combination of legal knowledge, legal theory learning, and legal practice. In 2000, with the support of the Ford Foundation in the United States, the law schools of seven universities including Wuhan University began to implement legal clinic education. Our college has introduced it as an elective subject for junior students.
In terms of teaching format, the legal clinic is divided into two parts: classroom teaching and practical teaching. It is a classroom without standard answers. Classroom teaching includes classroom discussions, group discussions and individual tutoring, using case analysis, role simulation, mock trial, video analysis and clinic games to guide students to think deeply about relevant legal issues, explore the true meaning of law, understand the spirit of the rule of law, and train legal skills. Among them, students are the center of teaching activities. Under the organization of teachers, through simulated interviews, fact identification, legal research, consultation, mediation, negotiation and litigation, students can personally understand the situation as judges, lawyers and prosecutors, and use the thinking of legal professionals to analyze and solve problems. Get lessons and inspiration from interpreting specific plots. The role of teachers is to assess, guide and supervise students as they learn legal professional skills and handle specific cases. In the teaching process, there are no standard answers to all questions. The role of teachers is to inspire students to find answers by themselves as much as possible, encourage students to be proactive and pioneering in learning, and thereby achieve an overall improvement in students' comprehensive abilities.
After a period of classroom teaching and simulation training, students studying in the clinic have to go to the Rights Protection Center for Socially Disadvantaged Groups to contact real parties and handle specific cases with the help of instructors. The center has become a base for clinical practice teaching, and students' specific participation includes activities such as replying letters, legal consultation, non-litigation agency, and litigation agency. A legal clinic is like a doctor's office. Students provide legal services to the weak in society, just like doctors performing surgeries. They flexibly apply what they have learned, which not only helps them understand social reality, but also enhances their sense of social responsibility. Most of the teachers in the clinic have worked as legal aid in the "center" for many years, or have many years of experience as lawyers. Their "clinical" guidance to students includes receiving clients, investigating facts, collecting evidence, participating in negotiations, mediating, analyzing cases, writing legal documents, representing litigation and appearing in court.
Clinic education opens a new window for legal education and opens up the long-standing gap between legal theory and legal practice. Practice has proved that the clinical education effect of our hospital is very obvious. Students who receive clinical education not only have strong professional qualities, but also have strong practical ability. In the 2001 "Challenge Cup" extracurricular academic research work competition for college students, one law student won the first prize and another student won the third prize; in the 2003 "Challenge Cup", a classmate won the third prize and Hubei Province Special Prize. In the "Ziqiang Cup" extracurricular academic science and technology work competition organized by Wuhan University, the School of Law won a total of 23 works, including 3 first prizes, 8 second prizes and 12 third prizes, and won the "Ziqiang Cup" college student First Prize in Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition. In 2000, law students Jiang Ge and Lei Yu represented the school in the National College Debate Competition and won the runner-up in the International College Debate Competition. At the same time, Lei Yu won the title of "Best Debater". In 2003, the law school debate team won the championship in the first “Law Cup” Mock Trial Debate Competition among colleges and universities across the country and the first “Tianlun Lawyers Cup” Hubei Law School Debate Competition.
3. Sino-French Law Double Degree Class - Building an International Education Platform
Wuhan is a city where French-owned enterprises gather, and it is also one of the cities where France has set up a consulate in China. Wuhan University has formed a good academic exchange atmosphere with France over the years. In order to meet the challenges of the international talent market and actively cultivate high-quality comprehensive talents engaged in foreign-related legal affairs, the School of Law has made full use of Wuhan’s French learning and practice resources and its good interaction with the French legal community. In 2002, it began to cooperate with the French Institute of Foreign Languages ??to offer double-degree courses in Chinese and French law.
The main purpose of establishing the Sino-French law double degree class is to break the traditional boundaries between various professional disciplines in the past, effectively integrate and allocate high-quality educational resources, give full play to the comparative advantages of different departments and majors, and train students Become a comprehensive senior talent with both legal expertise and proficiency in French. At the same time, we will take the opening of the Sino-French double degree class as an opportunity to further develop the existing cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation between China and France and enhance mutual understanding and trust.
The training goal of the double degree class is that students should have solid basic legal knowledge and legal skills, be proficient in and use French, English and computer skills, have strong pioneering and innovative spirit and professional competitiveness, and become Senior professionals engaged in foreign-related legal management can better serve the country’s modernization drive. There are three main levels of where students will go after graduation: First, directly enter the society to seek relevant jobs, such as employment in French-owned enterprises, French-owned law firms, foreign-related business institutions, foreign-related government departments, and international organizations; second, continue to study in China Master's and PhD degrees; third, go to a French university for further study, or complete DESS studies and engage in legal practice; or complete DEA studies, obtain a PhD, and engage in legal theoretical research.
The dual degree program lasts four years. Students need to study core courses in legal majors such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, administrative law and administrative procedure law, civil and commercial law, criminal law, criminal procedure law, international public law, international private law, and international economic law. At the same time, you must also complete French professional core courses such as basic French, intermediate French, advanced French, French audio and video, French writing, French culture, professional French, and French-Chinese translation. In addition to completing the necessary credits, graduates must also pass the defense of French and law papers and pass the CET-6 exam in order to obtain a double bachelor's degree.
As of April 2065, our school has carried out inter-school exchanges and cooperation with Lalor University, invited relevant French experts to teach double degree classes in China, and also selected outstanding students to study at the school.