"one of the country's best universities providing legal training." CESL's underlying partnership is composed of many top law schools in both Europe and China. "Eleven belong to the best universities in the world according to the 2018 QS World University Ranking." It is also integrated as one of the graduate schools of the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), which is "one of the most highly rated academic legal institutions in China." Graduates of CESL's Chinese law masters and doctorate programmes are conferred a degree by the CUPL which "especially in the field of law, [is] among the best universities in China" and in 2018 was ranked number 1 for law studies in China by CUCAS, the official Chinese University and College Admission System, as well as other rankings. Monika Auweter-Kurtz, President of the University of Hamburg, noted that CESL has an "unrivalled position in the global sphere of higher education." With strong support from both the European Community and the People's Republic of China, "the China-EU School of Law is regarded as one of the biggest EU educational projects in China." The EU Ambassador to China, Nicolas Chapuis, stated that "the China-EU School of Law is the flagship of European-Chinese cooperation." European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, has also identified CESL as the "flagship of our strategic partnership" between China and the EU. He recognised "this law school is committed to the pursuit of excellence through the quality of its students and its professors." He also compared CESL with the top-ranked China Europe International Business School and said CESL "should aim to be the best". The German Minister of Justice, Brigitte Zypries, said "the founding of the China-Europe School of Law represents a project of enormous importance to Germany." Professional training programmes CESL is a "a law school for Chinese and European jurists at all stages of their professional life." It provides professional training programmes for Chinese judges and prosecutors, Chinese and European lawyers, and other legal professionals. CESL works with the Chinese National Judges College and the Chinese National Prosecutors College to train judges and prosecutors respectively. Lawyers training is organized either wholly by CESL or in cooperation with lawyers associations. Over 9,000 professionals have participated in 90 different training courses offered so far. Research and consultancy The objectives of research and consultancy at CESL are to contribute to the legal transformation process in China and