School PRONews Magazine

Over time, the Faculty of Law of Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca has built a network of international partners in the field of education in general and legal education in particular.

Thus, the Faculty has been a member of the European Law Faculties Association (ELFA) for more than two decades. ELFA was founded to increase the quality of legal education in Europe, providing a platform for discussions and information exchange. The aim of ELFA’s activities is to coordinate the process of reforming legal education in Europe, introducing new subjects, promoting cooperation between universities in Europe and representing law faculties before European institutions, national educational institutions and associations of lawyers and prosecutors. More details can be found on the Association’s website (link to https://elfa-edu.org/).

The Faculty of Law in Cluj (at the University level) is also a member of the European Law Institute (ELI), an independent, democratic, membership-based organisation. ELI was established as an ‘Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif’ (AISBL) under Belgian law on 1 June 2011. Inspired by the activities of the American Law Institute (ALI), established in 1923, ELI serves a similar purpose within the European legal context, focusing on European legal development in a global context. ELI’s mission is to initiate, conduct, and facilitate research, make recommendations, and provide practical guidance on European legal development. It is committed to shaping law not just as it is, but as it should be. The Institute organises its work around projects, which can be long-term or responses to emerging legislative developments, covering all branches of law, substantive and procedural, public and private. In its quest for better law-making, the Institute strives to understand and bridge the oft-perceived tensions between different legal cultures, as well as between scholarship and practice. To accomplish its tasks, the Institute operates primarily on its own initiative but is also consulted by European, international, and national bodies. Its inclusive approach involves wide consultation within its network of over 1,700 Individual Members and 160 Institutional Members.

Notable Institutional Members are the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), several supreme courts in Europe, law firms, faculties and professional associations, including the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the International Bar Association (IBA), the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE), the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union and the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).

Since its inception, the Institute has developed strong collaborative ties with the ALI, the United States Uniform Law Commission (ULC) and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC). Additionally, it maintains close working relationships with the European legislature, national ministries of justice, key non-governmental organisations, and other sector-specific stakeholders.

More information is available on ELI’s website: https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/about-eli/.

Founded in 2016, The Guild (of European Research-Intensive Universities) comprises twenty-three of Europe’s most distinguished research-intensive universities in seventeen countries (including the Babeș-Bolyai University), and is dedicated to enhancing the voice of academic institutions, their researchers and their students. The Guild is committed to the pursuit of excellence, the importance of truth-seeking and trust-building as the foundation of public life, and the creation of new knowledge for the benefit of society, culture, and economic growth. The Faculty of Law is proud to be able to participate in this network as part of the University’s team. More details available at https://www.the-guild.eu/.

The Faculty of Law is by default a member of EUTOPIA. Established in 2019, EUTOPIA is an alliance of ten European universities, and six Global partners committed to developing a new model for integrated higher education institutions through transnational cooperation. All details can be found at https://eutopia-university.eu/.

For detailed information, please visit the dedicated webpage of the UBB Centre for International Cooperation https://cci.ubbcluj.ro/