Newswise — Cornell Law School is set to launch a student exchange program with Peking University beginning in fall 2008. The program marks the law school's first formal agreement with the premier law school in China.
The initiative also will be the first exchange program developed between the law school and a university in mainland China. It marks the 15th international school that has instituted student exchanges with Cornell Law School.
"China is one of the most important legal systems in the world," said Annelise Riles, director of Cornell's Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture. "Its importance is only going to grow as its economy grows. The exchange program is going to give our students an opportunity to experience something they probably are going to need no matter what career path they go into."
The program seals a growing relationship between Cornell Law School and Peking University Law School, which included two joint academic conferences held in Beijing in 2006 and 2007. Cornell will host the third joint conference -- on interdisciplinary approaches to law -- in June 2008.
Four students from each university will participate in the exchange program for one semester during each of the next three academic years. Cornell students will take courses in either English or Chinese, depending on their Chinese-language competence. In addition, a faculty member from Peking University will teach classes in Chinese corporate law at Cornell next year while Riles will teach at Peking University in 2009-10.
"This has the potential to be one of our most significant exchange relationships because it is with the top law faculty in China," said Larry S. Bush, executive director of Cornell's Clarke Center for International and Comparative Legal Studies. "It is an opportunity for our students interested in Chinese legal studies to have access to the heart of the Chinese legal system."
RSS