The Institute of European Union Law (IEUL) was established in May 2010, and its predecessor was the EU Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) established at the end of 2002. The academic team of the IEUL is mainly composed of teachers of the College of Comparative Law who are engaged in EU law studies full-time, and visiting professors from both inside and outside the CUPL as well as abroad. The purpose of the IEUL is to strengthen the research and teaching of EU law in China and to promote exchanges, communication and cooperation with European legal scholars in the field of EU law studies, with a particular focus on cultivating legal talents who can deeply understand European integration and the theory and practice of EU law. The IEUL, as a think tank, also aims to provide the government with legal services with regard to China-Europe political and economic relations.
The IEUL is currently one of the few teaching units in China that offer a series of EU law courses for undergraduates and postgraduates. The level, type and quantity of these courses are among the best in China. Four full-time teachers set up a degree course, ‘Introduction to European Union Law’, as well as elective courses for graduate students: ‘Theories and Methods of European Law Harmonization’, ‘EU Economic Law’, ‘EU Company Law’, ‘EU Contract Law’, and ‘Comparative Studies of Personal Information/Data Law’, and ‘Comparative Studies of Chinese and European Trade and Investment Laws’; elective courses for undergraduates: ‘Basics of EU Law’, ‘EU Economic and Trade Law’, ‘Legislation Challenges in Face of Digitalization in Europe with Emphasis on Consumer Law’ (international course), ‘EU Data Protection Law and Practice’ (international course), and ‘Personal Information/Data Risk Compliance Review’ (innovation and entrepreneurship course), a total of 12 courses.
Another feature of the IEUL is to apply for important research projects in order to promote scientific research, teaching and international cooperation. From July 2006 to October 2007, the CUPL cooperated with the University of Freiburg and the University of Münster to implement the interdisciplinary and comprehensive ‘EU-China European Studies Center Project’. This project strengthened the cooperation between the CUPL and European universities in the field of EU law studies which laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the EU law discipline. From July 2011 to August 2014, the IEUL successfully implemented the EU ‘Jean Monnet’ project with the University of Münster and the University of Augsburg in Germany. In September 2015, Professor Zhang Tong led the staff of the IEUL to successfully apply for the ‘Jean Monnet’ project again, and she was awarded the honor of ‘Jean Monnet Chair Professor’. From 2018 to 2019, Professor Zhang led the research team and Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, successfully applied for and implemented the ‘Sino-German Cooperative Scientific Research Project’ co-funded by the China Scholarship Council and DAAD of Germany. In September 2020, Professor Zhang led the research team, cooperating with the University of Münster, the University of Augsburg, the Humboldt University and the Radboud University in the Netherlands, once again successfully applied for the EU ‘Jean Monnet’ project, and once again won the honor of ‘Jean Monet Chair Professor’, as the highest academic honor awarded by the EU to scholars engaged in teaching and research on European issues worldwide. In recent years, the teachers of the IEUL have hosted or participated in nearly 20 projects such as the National Social Science Fund, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, Beijing Social Science and other projects, as well as international cooperation projects, compiled and published textbooks as well as the EU Jean Monnet project series. These outcomes have produced a wide range of influences in the field of EU law studies in China.
Head: ZHANG Tong; Deputy Diretor: ZHANG Xuezhe.
