A Brief Introduction to Institute of Law and Multiethnic Area Development

I. Formation

Institute of Law and Multiethnic Area Development is a cross-disciplinary institute that has combined three institutes—Institute of Pedagogic Law, Institute of Ethnic Law and Institute of Real Estate Law. Institute of Ethnic Law was founded in 1995, one of the early institutes on ethnic law in China; Professor Wu Dahua and Professor Xu Xiaoguang, famous Chinese experts on ethnic law, once acted as directors of this institute. Institute of Pedagogic Law was once an independent institute of research established at an early time like Institute of Ethnic law; Professor Mao Weimin, a famous expert, once served as director of this institute. Institute of Real Estate Law was the earliest institute in Guizhou’s universities involved in studies on real estate law, as well as the only institute in Guizhou on real estate theories and practice. In September 2005, based on the applications of the three institutes and College of Law, the university decided to blend the institutes into Institute of Law and Multiethnic Area Development, which has a full-time and part-time staff of nearly 30 researchers. Under the jurisdiction of the university, the institute, an independently-staffed research agency, has a clearer mission of research and academic disciplinary development. In December 2007 the institute was approved as a research center of humanities and social sciences of Guizhou Province.

II. Staff

At present the institute has a number of first-rate province-level experts on criminal law, economic law, ethnic law and proceedings law with high political qualities, outstanding academic achievements and excellent academic ethics. It has 26 full-time and part-time researchers, including 15 full professors and 11 associate professors; 21 of them have doctorate degrees and 2 of them have master’s degrees. Most of the researchers are below 45 years old, including such famous academic experts as Professor Wu Dahua, Professor Zhang Aiqing and Professor Pan Shanbin; the other researchers are also influential in academic circles.

III. Library collection

The library of Institute of Law and Multiethnic Area Development is the largest library for law research with a variety of literatures in Guizhou’s universities. It has been subscribing a large quantity of domestic and international journals and books. At present it has over 100 types of journals and more than 10000 volumes of books. Of the collection minority people literatures occupy the biggest percentage, which is a distinctive feature compared with other institutes of law. The institute has made “Regulations on Management of the Library for Institute of Law and Multiethnic Area Development”, standardizing document loans and management.

IV. Research achievement

With a solid foundation in research, the staff of the institute has made remarkable achievements concerned. Its overall level is higher than that of most other similar agencies in Guizhou, yielding a considerable influence at home and abroad.

Since 2009 the researchers have undertaken and completed over 50 projects of various types, including 1 project of National Social Sciences, 14 projects of Ministry of Education, 1 project of ministerial level other than Ministry of Education, 2 projects of Provincial Governor’s Funds, and 9 projects of Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences. In 2014, they undertook over 10 projects of Department of Education of Guizhou Province. Since 2009, they have published over 10 academic monographs and more than 160 papers in domestic and international journals, and have obtained 10 provincial or ministerial awards.

From 2009 to 2014 the institute has conducted a considerable amount of application studies for the agencies concerned. Some of the researchers are employed as consultants by judicial and government agencies; quite a few serve as members or arbitrators of Guiyang City Arbitration Commission, or consultants of law for enterprises and businesses. They have made great contributions to West-China’s law development, economic development in multiethnic areas, autonomous ruling systems for minority areas, and advice for government agencies at various levels, industrial and business circles and other fields.

Besides, the backbone researchers of the institute often take part in provincial legislation, and lead master program students in legislative formulation for provincial regulations. For instance, they participated in the legislative formulation of “Regulations on Mediation for the Public in Guizhou Province”. Through this exposure the postgraduates learned a lot about the status, nature, operation procedures, and problems of mediation for the public as well as suggestions for improvement.