The University of Luxembourg and the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs have agreed to extend the Inter-University Cooperation Project between the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the National University of Laos in Vientiane and Luxembourg’s Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance and. This project is part of the larger framework of the development cooperation between Luxembourg and Laos. Beginning in 2017 with an initial 4-year agreement, the project has been extended to 2024.
The Inter-University cooperation 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 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 (PDR) 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 have been the development of an e-library and related training to support legal research, numerous teaching visits, research stays and digital lectures, the coaching of an International Moot Court for Lao law students, the organization 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 modernization 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. Additionally, 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.
Franz Fayot, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, is delighted with the extension of the collaboration between the two universities in the field of law and the strengthening of the rule of law: “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.”
