Partnership between Dōshisha Law School Kyōto and Hagen Faculty of Law
Photo: Dōshisha Law School
In June 2024, a partnership agreement between the Faculty of Law at the University of Hagen and the Dōshisha Law School in Kyoto came into effect. The law school is located on the central campus of Dōshisha University, one of Japan's most renowned private universities, founded in 1875, immediately north of the gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
The partnership was prepared over the course of a visit by Prof. Weitzdörfer to Dōshisha Law School during a research trip facilitated by the International Office in September 2023, together with Dean Prof. Yuki Asano and Vice Dean Prof. Kōji Takahashi. The Memorandum of Understanding was then signed during another visit by Prof. Weitzdörfer in March 2024 and has since been approved by the universities' rectorate and chairman's committee, respectively.
The newly established partnership builds on the long-standing relationship between the University of Hagen and Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Marutschke, who was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Hagen in 2004 by the Dōshisha University. Other faculty members have also visited Dōshisha on numerous occasions, including Prof. Andreas Haratsch and Ass. jur. Nils Szuka.
The partnership agreement is intended to formalise further cooperation between the two faculties in various areas. It will facilitate mutual research trips, joint conferences and symposia, as well as the exchange of teaching materials. The popular study trips in particular, offered as part of the Japanese law courses and which both universities had already conducted several times before the pandemic, will be offered again.
Photo: Dōshisha Law School
The partnership thus offers improved opportunities to get to know Japan and Japanese law ‘from the inside.’ The Department of East Asian Law looks forward to working with Dōshisha Law School, thanks all those involved in making this partnership possible, and calls on all members of both faculties to express their interest in participating.
