For the third year now, future Chinese lawyers have been sent to Ural State Law University for an in-depth study of the peculiarities of the structure of the Russian state, constitutional and civil legislation, legal English and international standards for the protection of human rights. This summer, our guests were not only bachelor and master’s students of the Beijing United University. On the basis of a mutual cooperation agreement, Hebei University of Economics and Business also sent its students to us.

As any event with participation of foreign guests, a lot of joint efforts from the organizers of the Summer Law School were required – from issuing visa invitations to transport services. Therefore, I would like to separately thank the Rector of the University V.A. Bublik for the support provided to the school organizers, the International Cooperation Department headed by D.V. Konev for help in working with the foreign delegation. The Institute of Continuing Education worked closely with the Institute of State and International Law, especially with its director D.N. Sergeev, because he knows the specifics of working and communicating with Chinese partners like no one else! Danil Nazipovich repeatedly helped to conduct negotiations and provided language support to the event throughout the Summer Law School.

Vice-Rector for Research L.N. Berg gave an welcoming speech at the opening of the Summer School. She told the children and the accompanying teachers about UrSLU, its history and modern life of the university, the Ural law school, university students and their achievements. Director of the Institute of Further Education S.E. Nesmeyanova gave a lecture on the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation. The lessons were successfully conducted by our teachers: S.K. Zagainova (Practice of mediation in Russia), M.A. Likhachyov (International Protection of Human Rights), Ye.G. Kalinina (Peculiarities of doing business in Russia; Fundamentals of legislation and law in the Russian Federation), A.S. Vasilyev (Introduction to Intellectual Property Law), L.A. Sokolova (Legal English), S.A. Stepanov (Fundamentals of Civil Law of the Russian Federation).

Every day our guests attended classes, museums, governmental bodies, commercial structures. We got acquainted with the activities of the Statutory Court of the Sverdlovsk Region. In the Administration of Yekaterinburg, the head of the Staff I.V. Zakharov gave a lecture on local self-government in Russia. At the Election Commission of the Sverdlovsk Region, the children were told about the electoral system of the Russian Federation, the electoral process, electoral technologies. They also managed to “participate” in the elections and test how the complexes for ballots processing work. One of the memorable ones was the visit to the Ombudswoman in the Sverdlovsk Region T.G. Merzlyakova (for more details see: https://ombudsman.midural.ru/news/show/id/3882/news_category/61). Issues of interest to lawyers of the two countries were discussed: discrimination in the field of labour relations, protection of the rights of convicts and persons who have been victims of criminal acts, large families. Chinese students actively asked questions and took part in their discussion.

We should also mention an excursion to the Museum. S.S. Alekseyeva. There our guests learned about the life and work of the outstanding jurist S.S. Alekseyeva, touched the life of the great scientist. Museum Director S.A. Stepanov gave a lecture on the analysis of the legal systems of Russia and China, as well as the main aspects of modern comparative studies.

An excursion program was prepared for the listeners, allowing them to get acquainted with the culture and history of the Urals and Russia. They visited one of the oldest cities in the Urals – Nevyansk with its main architectural landmark – the Nevyansk leaning tower; worked in a pottery workshop in the Tavolga village; visited the borders of Europe and Asia, learned about the history of the royal family and visited the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers at Ganina Yama. And so that foreign students could take home a particle of Yekaterinburg and the university with them, they were presented with gifts.

The working language of the program was English. In this connection, the teachers of the University conducted classes in English, and within the framework of field events, the students of the SILI – Anna Tarasova, Anastasia Mekhontseva, Anna Kaigorodova, Daniil Makarov - provided translation for the guests. We thank our volunteers for their efforts, selfless work and help to the organizers of the Summer School!

Thanks to close cooperation of all structural units of the University, the Summer Law School was successful! Our guests were pleased with the warm welcome and expressed a desire to return to Yekaterinburg, as well as to begin preparations for a trip to the UrSLU Summer Law School next year.