Environmental Law Clinics in Collaboration with Environmental NGOs in China

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of an innovative curriculum design on environmental education in China, specifically with regard to an Environmental Law Clinic (ELC) course, to be run in co-operation with environmental NGOs (ENGOs). Adopting a qualitative case study method, our researchers investigated the effect of this innovative curriculum, including the quantity of student environmental knowledge, the level of the sense of student environmental responsibility, and the ability of students to solve environmental disputes. We also investigated each participant’s attitudes toward this innovative design. Our researchers employed various methods to analyze the student questionnaires, and to simulate consultation records and interview records. The results of our study show that an ELC (in co-operation with ENGOs) would be innovative and indispensable in the field of contemporary environmental law education. In fact, our design largely solves the problems faced by China’s ELC education. The innovative curriculum we have designed is beneficial to the sustainable development of society, because it not only improves a student’s practical ability, necessary knowledge, and the skills to deal with cases, but the curriculum also increases a student’s sense of environmental responsibility. However, to promote the wide-range practice and sustainable development of this curriculum in China, sound and multilevel support systems and measures are required.