CUHK
News Centre

The Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has attained its new Faculty status since 1 August 2008. The Founding Director of the School, Professor Mike McConville, Simon F S Li Professor of Law, has also been appointed the first Dean of the Faculty on the same day.

The change of status was a recognition of the remarkable progress made by the then School of Law since its establishment in 2004. It will also provide a clear picture of the University’s mission as a comprehensive research University with eight constituent Faculties, including that of Law.

“In its short history of only four years, the Faculty has already introduced its flagship undergraduate programme with Double Degree options for all students. The postgraduate programmes have already gained global recognition and have enabled the Faculty to carve out a market share of continuing education in legal studies. With its new status, the Faculty’s ambition is to become renowned as a centre for excellence in teaching, learning and research, for its relevance to and support of the local community and for its commitment to the rule of law. It is confident that it will have a transformative effect as it fulfils its longer-term mission to develop legal education and training for a global age,” said Professor McConville.

It is the Faculty’s belief that only a multi-disciplinary and cross-departmental approach to legal education and training delivered in a global learning environment will be able to meet the demands of the new social, political, cultural and economic order the region faces in the coming years. The Faculty is well-placed to meet this challenge, with current personnel including PRC staff who are renowned experts both in Chinese Law and in legal domains that transcend national and regional boundaries. The Faculty will additionally incorporate into what will become the global Faculty of Law the acknowledged eminence of CUHK in areas such as Chinese Studies, Economics, History, Environment, Accountancy and Business.

The Faculty plans to grow to a student body of about 1,200 to 1,500 and a full grown teaching staff complement of approximately 50-55 supported by a large cohort of part-time teachers. This will enable it to compete against its benchmark institutions – Law Faculties of Global distinction. It is also in the course of building up a strong cohort of research postgraduate students. These have been primarily drawn from mainland China and steps are currently being taken to create a more international mix through innovative recruitment exercises.

At the beginning of 2009, the Faculty will move to its new and permanent home in the new Western Teaching Complex on the University main campus. The new premises will provide sufficient space for the Faculty’s further expansion up to its fully fledged state of some 55 academic staff, and research and administrative staff totalling more than a hundred.

Since its inception in 2004, the Faculty of Law has achieved unprecedented success in having launched 5 teaching programmes, both UGC-funded and self-financed, recruited a sizeable faculty of high distinction from more than ten jurisdictions, created a rich research ethos, and set up its operations at two physical sites on the main university campus and within the heart of the legal system at the Bank of America Tower in Central.