Dilemma and Breakthrough of “Third Semester” Teaching of Law Major in Private Un

Abstract. Law Major of Wuhan Changjiang Business University implemented the “three semester system”， turned the original traditional summer into a third semester of training practical ability of students， and achieved good results. In this paper， we take “third semester” teaching in law major of Wuhan Changjiang Business University as an example， analyze deficiencies of the private colleges in the “third semester” teaching， such as the lack of effective management， a single type of internships， shortage of internships and student funding and non-objective internship quality assessment， and suggest establishing practice management of the “trinity” mode， build internships and employment convergence platform， and perfect internship assessment and other recommendations.

Key words： The “Third Semester”， Practical Teaching， Law Education， Private Universities

1. Introduction

Postgraduate students have difficulties in employment， and law graduates of private colleges have more difficulties in employment. Difficult employment has both objective reasons and subjective reasons， but only with the application of society needs can improve students’ employment index. This is due to cultivate innovative talents， propose appropriate view for practice teaching.

2. Teaching background of the “third semester”

2.1 “Three semester system” and the “third semester”

Wuhan Changjiang Business University， founded in 2002， is one of the first groups of a full-time regular undergraduate institutions successfully changed Since 2009， it began implementing the “three semester system”， adhering to the three “earlier” educational philosophy， which means “familiar with the situation a little earlier， a little earlier into the state， a little earlier achievements”， making students integrate into society in advance， and tempering students’ practical ability to lay the foundation for the job. Different from other schools， its “three-semester” refers to the spring and autumn and a summer semester. Summer begins two weeks in advance， the fall semester moves two weeks later and the summer holiday is nearly three months. Although it has one more month than traditional summer vacation， in fact， this three months holiday is no longer the traditional sense of the summer holiday， but a veritable “third semester”. Students need to have internships， play a role of social human and learner.

2.2 Necessity and importance of “third term” teaching

Law major has very close relationship with the social life， and is a strong practical discipline. Therefore， before the law students’ theoretical knowledge of law has not been tested in employment， it is necessary to enhance their understanding of the society and guide them to a correct understanding of social， work faster and better for the environment， and enhance their social adaptation. From the students’ personal development， student internships come from the classroom can make themselves into the community earlier and through internships in order to understand their lack of knowledge on the structure， in order to better develop a learning plan and plan goals in life. Meanwhile， the “third term” is also an aspect of showing the students’ ability to learn social skills and some of the students can leave a good internship implication for employment during the internship through the performance， and lay a good basis.

2.3 The effect of teaching of “third semester”

The law major of Wuhan Changjiang Business University since 2009 the implementation of three semesters， a total fourth period of students participated in the “third semester” internships. Through internships， students’ ability of analyzing problems and solving problems can be improved， organizational skills and social skills are significantly enhanced. There are some students during the internship because of their excellent performance come into the work directly after graduation. In the course of the internship， the vast majority of students are actively working hard， modest， studious， serious and responsible to work， and initiative to learn the teacher internships. Seen from internships feedback， students who participate in internships work actively， from sweeping boil and other little things， sorting files， to the important work in this sector， needing a strong ability to adapt， with a certain amount of work and communication skills.

3. The “third term” teaching model

Currently there are many colleges and universities began implementing the “three semester system”， but the added “the third semester” are mainly based on electives， such as Sun Yat-sen University and Shanghai Jiaotong University； a few schools require students in the “third term” to participate in summer practice， such as Peking University and so on. The "third semester" of students in Wuhan Changjiang Business University are mainly about students’ choosing to go to the relevant legal practice based units.

3.1 The organization and training of school

When students enter colleges and universities， at the beginning of the time， the College will make propaganda and mobilization of “three semester system” to make students understand what is “three semester system”. In April of each year， the college requires students to start looking for internships； from the April to June， the college trains the students in various subjects， including internships discipline， responsibility， interpersonal relationships， communication etiquette， etc.， and in order to allow students to practice more effective， for that student will be in different internship， the college hires judges， prosecutors， lawyers and other professional legal staff to explain for students about courts， prosecutors and law firms to practice and how to improve the efficiency issue internship. In order to secure internships attention， we employ insurance company's insurance commissioner for the students to explain the insurance contract， and prompts safety precautions.

3.2 Teaching guide in the third semester

Students participating in internships are in the dual management. On the one hand， as students in school， they accept the Law Department management guidance and practical instruction in the teacher's guidance； on the other hand， in internships， they comply with the rules and regulations of the unit and accept internship instructor guidance. In order to better guide students’ internships， and timely detect problems， Faculty of Law dice internships for students by region， and assign a professional instructor to point directly to guide practice. Before the final exam in June， college requires area guided teacher to meet students， confess internship matters and specify organizational ability and responsible student of internships as an Area Leader. Students’ beginning and finishing the internship shall be reported to the school instructor. In the medium term by the end of July and early August， regional instructors are required to meet students’ instructor in internships to understand students’ situation.

3.3 Third semester examination

Internship program requires students to have practical plan， practice diary and practice summary and ask the employer to make assessment according to the student’s internship. After coming back to school， students should hand in the corresponding written materials to the Department of the Ministry. Department of the Ministry organizes teachers to assess and score students’ internships. Currently the evaluation of the college was made primarily according to news and advertising professional student internship evaluation， from behavioral credits， shill credits and achievement credit to make assessment. Behavioral assessment evaluates student’ internship attitude， whether they have reached the number of training days， whether they have clear internship program and complete internships log； Skill credit is evaluated by teachers based on the students’ internship and internship matters， mainly to study whether students have mastered the business practice； Achievement credits are mainly about scientific capabilities， such as the detailed summary， survey or related research papers. Finally， the above-mentioned three are percentage score， and credited academic system.

4. Main problems in “third term” teaching

4.1 Student internships scattered， lack of effective management

An organization of student internships， it is required freshman and sophomore students mainly go home for internship， and basically nearly 70 percent of the students take internships dispersed， while only about 30% of the students take internships together. For 70% dispersion internship students scattered throughout the country， the instructor can be only contacted by phone or with internships offered by the student instructor to know student’s internship situation. It is hard to know students’ actual number of days， internships performance. If students misrepresent internship days to obtain excellent score， although there are internships logs and internships identification， it is also difficult for students to find the student internship cheating.

4.2 Internships are single， not conducive to employment

Currently student internship units of the college are basically courts， prosecutors， judicial bureau， lawyers， legal department and other services； there is no business as internships. Student do internships in court and procuratorate， even if his performance is excellent， according to our personnel system， he cannot be directly remain in the organs， because on the one hand the students need to pass the judicial examination， on the other hand he needs to pass the civil service exam， which enough to make most students suffer defeat. The business enterprises are not in the civil service so they can independently decide employer. But the students do not practice in business enterprises and do not understand the business law. The business enterprises also do not understand private college majors， so it is difficult for students to obtain the employer recognition. The single type of internships directly affects students’ employment.

4.3 Internship assessment criteria are difficult to be objective and impartial

In the students’ third semester teaching quality assessment， the main assessment is about students’ behavior， skills and achievements. In the assessment of students’ internships behavior， as described above， because of the students’ dispersed， school mainly takes the telephone surveillance on students in a single monitoring way， which is difficult to make objective and impartial assessment of the students. In the students’ skills assessment， because the students are engaged in different business and in different degrees of difficulty， how to assess student skills， there is no uniform standard. In achievement assessment， it lacks of authority. A summary of the students， papers and research reports levels cannot be measured objectively.

4.4 Limited funding， teaching blocked

Operational funding for private colleges and universities generally comes from tuition fees. According to the “2008 China Private Universities Evaluation Report”， the average private university tuition fees are about RMB 1.1 million. Compared with the public universities， it has a relatively large gap. As a private university， there are also financial constraints. In the course of the internship， students generally reflect internship subsidies are too low， internships cost larger， practice a longer time， and have too much of expenditures in transportation， rent and eat， affecting students’ internships momentum. Teachers， due to heavy workload and fewer subsidies are reluctant to accept the internship guidance tasks. From a security perspective， students’ internships have security risks and internships protection is relatively low. Also in practice base construction and maintenance process， funding was also significantly strained. These problems have affected the development of a “third term”.

5. Breakthrough of “third semester” teaching of the private universities

5.1 Construct a “trinity” teaching management mechanism

Private Universities in teaching practice should adhere to the trinity management mechanism of “student internships leaders - school nursing teachers - internship instructor”， giving full play to the students’ positive initiative to improve the quality of teaching practice.

5.1.1 The guiding role of student internships leaders

Students entering the community and into the internship have many problems， including internships in professional technical aspects but also deal with interpersonal issues， the need to discuss with others or ask， in particular， to their classmates or alumni each stream to obtain spiritual support. Students will face rent， work assignments and other issues in the internship. So we can select organized and responsible student as internships leader. Internships leaders as members of the group should be aware of their team members and promptly reflect to internships instructor.

5.1.2 The internship instructor guiding role

Internship instructor does not only provide professional guidance but also play a role in word and deed. Their way of doing things will have a direct impact on students’ attitudes and workplace ethics in the future. Therefore， after determining instructor in internship， students’ performance should be linked to an instructor. The instructor should be strict to require students to comply with internships discipline.

5.1.3 The coordinating role of instructor

Instructor of school plays a role of connecting students， internship teachers and parents and gives students necessary counseling， to solve problems and communicate regularly with students and tell students notes in internships and promptly resolve the students in the internship process psychological problems. The instructor also needs to understand the situation from internship instructor， to develop practical points to keep in touch with parents and understand the spirit and student internships modal reflection.

5.2 Types of diverse internships

Postgraduate students of private universities will have several options： the first is study section， the second is the civil service exam， the third are into the law firm， and the fourth are in the business. Some students reach the former two goals， with small proportion， largely controlled at 30-50%. After passing the Judicial Examination， some students choose to enter a law firm， but it needs to spend a few years time and a lot of effort to grow into a successful lawyer， not all students are suitable for a lawyer. The fourth option is in the enterprise. For law majors of private colleges and universities， there is a big obstacle. On the one hand， they have suffered discrimination of enterprises， who are more willing to choose a college graduate law student； on the other hand， from the nature of employment in the legal profession， it needs to have some practical experience， so postgraduate students into the enterprise is unlikely， and do not necessarily engage in their desired career.

In the development of the “third term”， the school must make the convergence of student internships and employment work. The existing main types of internships of the college are courts， prosecutors and law firms， embodying the characteristics of law but without the idea of combining with its commercial development. Therefore， based on the original internships， we should add different types of training units， such as industrial and commercial tax authorities， securities and insurance institutions， and other units with "commercial" features. We should also fully develop cooperation with enterprises to seek business-oriented multilateral cooperation， and vigorously promote the students and corporate relations， to allow enterprises to understand the students， so as to build a platform for internship and employment.

5.3 Perfect internship assessment

In order to avoid the drawbacks of the process and better ensure and improve the quality of student internships， we must perfect the assessment right now， and construct standardized assessment mode. Specifically， it includes the following two aspects：

5.3.1 Construct Law Professional Practice skills assessment exam.

The third semester examination not only check the students’ written materials， such as training logs， internships and summarizing， but also ask students to work on their own whether to master， but also in asking basic legal practice can assess its capabilities， such as review of contracts， according to the summary trial focus， or focus of the analysis， production and other legal instruments. The assessment of these practices can be developed according to the different departments specialized practical skills assessment exam to make an objective assessment of standardization.

5.3.2 Combination of the school guidance teacher evaluation and internships teacher evaluation

Postgraduate third semester in the assessment of the quality of student internships not only need score provided by the internship instructor but also scored by a school instructor. Current postgraduate student internships generally only require expert opinion without a specific score. So we can give the identification of internships listed in the table of specific scoring criteria from internships to students under a trainee score scoring. And then we combine school instructor evaluation with internship instructor evaluation to prevent subjectivity and arbitrariness.

In the development of the "third term" teaching process in private colleges and universities， we will inevitably encounter some problems with resistance. The key is to develop “three semester system” helpful for students to improve practical ability and conducive to student employment. We need to hold regular student seminars， attention to the views of students and give full play to their initiative to improve the "third term" teaching management and make the “third term” teaching more effective.

6. Acknowledgement

This article was financially supported by the research results of Construction of Law Practice Teaching Mode in Law Consumption and Service Market of the 12th Five-Year Planned Project of Huber Education Science （Grant NO. 2013A043）.

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