From June 14-15, 2019, Dean Shi Jingxia was invited to attend the 6th Asian Law Schools Deans’ Forum in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, which was sponsored by China Association for Legal Education of China Law Society, Renmin University of China Law School and National University of Mongolia Law School. The forum invited more than 30 law school deans/associate deans and professors from mainland China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, and India. Nearly 100 law school teachers and students participated in the forum.

The theme of the forum was “Social Role and Competency of Law Schools: The Experience and Future of Asian Law Schools”. Apart from the opening and closing ceremonies, the forum was divided into five modules, including “The Orient and Asian Issues in Law Education”, “Social Problems, Public Views and Law Education”, “Active and Passive: How Law Education Responds to Social Needs”, “Diversity of Students and Culture: Diversity of Law Education” and “Sharing of Concepts and Experiences in Law Education”, etc.

In the second section, Dean Shi Jingxia delivered a keynote speech on the theme of “the Belt and Road Initiative and the Response of Legal Education”. The content of the speech was divided into six parts, including the basic understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative, Mongolia’s participation and support to the Belt and Road Initiative, the opportunities and challenges brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to Asian law education, the responses and comments of law education to the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as sharing the experiences of the UIBE Law School in cultivating students from participating countries (including international students from Mongolia, etc.) under the Belt and Road Initiative. The speech from Dean Shi aroused great interests of the participants. In response to questions from the audience, Dean Shi further shared experiences concerning exchange opportunities for students and scholars under the Belt and Road Initiative, the quality evaluation standards of Chinese law education, the distinctions between law education in civil law system and common law system and so on.

(Dean Shi Jingxia made a keynote speech)

In the comprehensive discussion at the closing ceremony, Dean Shi further emphasized the opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative to legal education in Asia, and called for close cooperation among all countries in order to cultivate legal talents that could meet the needs of the Initiative. At the same time, Dean Shi pointed out that legal education should respond to the urgency of technology-driven legal issues, recognized the difficulties and challenges faced by deans of Law Schools, and mentioned again the professional characteristics and traditional advantages of international economic law of UIBE Law School, expressing her willingness to cooperate with law schools from other nations/regions.

(Dean Shi spoke at the general discussion of the closing ceremony)

The Asian Law Schools Deans’ Forum was initiated by Renmin University of China Law School in 2001. This is the second time that Dean Shi Jingxia participated in “the Asian Law Schools Dean’s Forum”, which will be conducive to the mutual understanding among UIBE Law School and fraternal law schools in other countries/regions, and expand opportunities for further cooperation.

(A group photo of the participants)