Hi,

I am from India and I was looking for information on pursuing LLM from Peking University China, and how does it compare with NUS.

1. If we look at the rankings on top universities, the STLPKU and NUS are placed 23 and 13 respectively. I am guessing this is because of the ranking parameters.

2. I have interacted with and know quite a few NUS alumni, but did not find anyone from STLPKU. If any of you passed out of STLPKU or are pursuing LLM there, please post your experience, it will help a lot of people.

3. Upon rudimentary research, it appears that STL is substantially cost-effective compared to NUS. this, coupled with the similarity in rankings and international exposure, should one consider joining STL above NUS?

4. Do you guys have any idea about how easy/difficult it is to get into STL for an LLM compared to NUS?

Thanks.

Interesting choice. I think it depends what you want to do after. Both universities are well regarded. The NUS program is probably still better known internationally, but PKU is close. For the LL.M. programs specifically, that ranking makes little difference imho. From the LLMGuide pages it seems they have a similar tuition?

Have you considered Tsinghua University or the China-EU School of Law (at the China University of Political Science and Law)? Both of those also have top LL.M. programs and CESL's seems to be the most cost effective.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. On the cost front, the research that I have carried out is (a) speaking to people studying in Mandarin who've lived in China, and (b) STL's website.

I think a comfortable total for two years at STL comes to around 2,60,000 RMB (39,000$ and 26,00,000 Indian Rupees). To be on a safer side, if I add some more expenses to get a round figure, I am looking at 300,000 RMB, which is 45,000$ and 30,00,000 INR. (can provide breakup if it helps others)

Now, NUS is around 30,000$ in tuition only, is what I have heard. Have not researched on it much,and that is what I am requesting help on.

Could you help me get a number of a realistic cost on NUS, in the absence of scholarships?

Here is what I found:
NUS and PKU charge about the same tuition (unless you are a local student, which changes the fee structure).

>NUS (https://law.nus.edu.sg/admissions/fees.html)
S$35,250 tuition for the program (about 175,000 RMB or 18,00,000 INR)

>PKU (stl.pku.edu.cn/master-of-laws/tuition-and-costs/)
176,000 RMB for the program (about 18,50,000 INR)

However, Singapore is porbably more expensive to live than Beijing.

>I would take a look at CESL(http://en.cesl.edu.cn/Aademic/International_Master_of_Chinese_Law.htm)
87,000 RMB for the program (about 9,00,000 INR)
So that is about half the price and you receive an LL.M. from CUPL (which is ranked about the same as the above two).

Thanks for the detailed response.

For NUS, given the generally large number of Indians applying, I think scholarships would be difficult to arrange (this is conjectural at this stage). I am hoping that since I speak Mandarin, arranging better scholarships would be relatively easier.

On the other hand, there is not a whole lot of transparency and public-domain information available about STL. There are not many indians who have applied and completed the LLM. This limits possibility of direct interaction with alumni.

On the CESL, could you tell me which rankings you are looking at? I have generally found CESL to be listed lower than NUS and Peking (on QS, THE etc.). I checked out the program, and it looks interesting. Thanks for this info.

I think scholarships will be hard at all three. That's why I pointed out CESL, which is like a 50% scholarship automatically :)

CESL is one of the law schools of CUPL. While you are right that NUS and Peking often come out ahead on overall university rankings, that is because those schools have many different research departments in other disciplines including medicine, physcial sciences, etc. If you look only at law rankings though, CUPL is undoubtedly one of the top universities in China: "CUPL is one of the top positions in the rankings, especially in the field of law" (http://www.zib.jura.uni-koeln.de/16289.html?&L=1). It often competes for first place with Renmin: "Both Renmin and CUPL are ranked as either number one or number two, but the order of the two varies depending on different rankings" (https://www.uib.no/en/jur/20738/starts-cooperation-chinese-universities).

As you requested, here are some helpful links for ranking law schools in China:
>https://practicesource.com/china-law-school-ranking/
>http://ranking.cucas.edu.cn/top_Law_universities_2.html
>https://www.cucas.edu.cn/studyinchina/top/2015_Top_1__Law_Universities_in_Beijing_237-Law.html
>https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_law_prof_blog/2013/02/chinese-law-schools-a-ranking-sort-of.html
>https://internationaleducation.gov.au/News/Latest-News/Pages/Article-Ranking-Chinas-universities.aspx
>http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2013-01/31/content_27848183_9.htm
etc.
>https://www.jura.uni-hamburg.de/en/die-fakultaet/aktuelle-meldungen/2017-12-06-1.html

The ranking from China's own Ministry of Education currently shows 1. Renmin, 2. CUPL, 3. Peking (https://www.ruc.edu.cn/discipline-assessment-en). These top three are very close and any would be a good choice.

Thanks for the wonderfully detailed response. You have been really helpful :)

A general opinion that was echoed by a number of people that I spoke to was: in order to land a scholarship from a Chinese organization, you need to demonstrate language skills (highly preferred), but more than that, you need to demonstrate that you hold an interest in China, its culture, its legal system etc.

Now, though this sounds easy on paper, once you actually plan on how you are going to get this done, it is mind numbing.

Do you study in an institution in China? You seem to have neat knowledge about it.

Also, for someone who will apply and join next year (For STL the date is March 2020 - I will find out about application seasons for other unis), what would you say are the things one should do in order to fare better in the scholarship race?

Thanks!

From what I understand, and mentioned before, it will be very hard to get scholarships from any of these universities. These programs attract a lot of highly qualified applicants and they usually do not give that many/any scholarships. I think it's best to plan your finances accordingly.

In terms of applications, I have not heard that knowledge of Chinese makes any difference, either for admissions or scholarships. I think showing an interest in China (if you are applying in China) is valuable though. Ask yourself: why do you want to attend this program, out of all the different LL.M.'s that exist in all the different countries around the world--why this one? What do you want to do with your education afterwards? If you can give good answers to these questions, then I think you're off to a good start!

Keep us informed of where you decide to apply and attend. Good luck!

Thank you so much @rjred and @lawlawmaster for your conversation, it has been so helpful and informative. Really appreciate.