Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 5, Issue 3, Article 6 (Dec., 2004) Shu-wen YANG and Jing-ling LIU Research on current situation and approaches of environmental legal education in mainland China universities

Research on current situation and approaches of environmental legal education in mainland China universities

Abstract

In this paper, environmental legal education in universities of Mainland China is analyzed. The questionnaire survey had been administered in several famous universities and normal universities of Mainland China. The main results are that: (1) 100% of those surveyed universities offer courses like environmental science, environmental engineering, environmental chemistry, ecology, environmental economics, and 70%~80% of them offer other courses about pollution control engineering, while only 40% universities offer a course on environmental law; (2) 59% undergraduate students whose major is environmental science or environmental engineering have some knowledge of environmental law, however, almost 64% university students in other majors have never heard about it, and they are also indifferent to it. The results reflect that the percentage of offering environmental law course is low and great gap exists in the environmental legal consciousness of undergraduate students in interrelated environmental majors and those in other majors. Finally some suggestions for improvement are given: (1) Revise the curricula, i.e. with an aim to offer a course on environmental law in every major; (2) Offer professional development workshop for teachers in order to promote environmental legal consciousness amongst teachers themselves; (3) Make use of various methods, such as distance education, all kinds of media and so on, to diffuse knowledge about environmental law for enhancing civil environmental legal consciousness.

Key words: environmental legal consciousness; environmental legal education; higher education in mainland China

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