Law summer school 2019;
Credit: University of Luxembourg
The University of Luxembourg and the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of Luxembourg's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs have agreed to extend the "Inter-University Cooperation" project between the Luxembourg university’s Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance and the National University of Laos in Vientiane.
This project is part of the larger framework of the development cooperation between Luxembourg and Laos. Beginning in 2017 with an initial four-year agreement, the project has been extended to 2024.
The Inter-University Cooperation project seeks to foster a genuine legal culture and reinforce best practices for law students, lecturers and researchers at the National University of Laos, and more specifically at the Faculty of Law and Political Science. The ultimate goal of the project is to promote the rule of law in Lao People's Democratic Republic by supporting and enriching both the research and teaching environment, with a focus on the correct application of legal rules.
The decision to extend the project was partly based on the success and potential of the first four years. Some notable achievements so far include the development of an e-library and related training to support legal research, several teaching visits, research stays and digital lectures, the coaching of an International Moot Court for Lao law students, the organisation of thematic research seminars in the form of "summer schools" and the publication of a special edition of the journal Critical Quarterly for Legislation and Law dedicated to the project with contributions from both Lao and Luxembourg researchers.
New objectives for the next phase of the project are the modernisation of teaching through the introduction of clinical legal education, the development of a digital teaching offer, the updating of teaching material and the creation of a “student for student” tutoring programme. In addition, three scholarships will be made available to promising young law researchers from the National University of Laos who wish to a pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Luxembourg together with research grants to support Laotian research in law.
To ensure an inclusive and coherent governance approach to cooperation in Laos, the University of Luxembourg will continue to work closely with its partners, the Institute of Legal Support and Technical Assistance (ILSTA) and the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev).
Prof. Stefan Braum, project leader for the University of Luxembourg, commented: “We are very happy and proud to continue the successful cooperation with the Luxembourg Cooperation and our partners in Laos. The project is a model of a bottom-up approach on how to promote rule of law principles in an intercultural context and thus sustainably strengthening democracy and human rights”.
Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, expressed his delight over the extension of this collaboration: “A faculty of law offering high-quality education is the basis for strengthening the rule of law, with the ultimate goal of providing all Lao citizens access to their rights”.
