Academic Program

Courses offered in the China Program have an international and comparative law focus. Classes are conducted in English, and none of the courses offered has prerequisites. Classes meet five times per week, Monday through Friday, in the morning. Each course in the program is rated at two credit hours, involving fourteen 100-minute sessions of instruction and a two-hour examination. Registrants may enroll in up to two of the five courses for a maximum of four credit hours. All courses offered are fully equivalent for credit purposes to those courses offered at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Grades are based on an examination in each course. (See Admission Criteria and Enrollment for more information.) Thomas Jefferson School of Law reserves the right to limit enrollment in particular courses; students who register for courses that have already been closed will be notified.

In addition to the law courses, a Chinese conversation course may be offered in the afternoon to registrants depending upon student interest and demand, for a small additional charge. The conversation course, which is not offered for college credit, is available to registrants and accompanying persons.

This year’s Distinguished Guest Lecturers are Former South African Constitutional Court Justice and Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals of the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda Richard J. Goldstone and Justice Jiang Huiling of the Beijing Supreme Court. There also will be a Brown-Bag Luncheon Series with distinguished speakers and experts in the field of international law and a very special invited visit to the Beijing Supreme Court. The lecture series is conducted in the afternoon, usually from 12:30 – 1:15 p.m. This year there will be an organized weekend trip to Shanghai to attend the Shanghai Expo.

The program begins with a Welcoming Reception in the evening on Sunday, May 23, 2010. There will be a short Orientation session on the first day of classes, Monday, May 24, 2010, at the Zhejiang University Guanghua College of Law at 8:30 a.m. All classes on May 24 will be delayed by one hour to allow for Orientation. Therefore, on May 24 only, classes will begin at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively.