As the years go by, the year begins again; as the stars and frosts pass by, we will continue to live in the future. Waving goodbye to the year 2023, striding into the year 2024, standing at the intersection of the old year and the new year, we send our sincere greetings and New Year's blessings to all the faculty and students of the School, retired comrades, alumni at home and abroad, as well as all the leaders at all levels who care about and support the School of Law of Southeast University, and friends from all walks of life!

During this year, all the teachers and students of the Law School insisted on taking Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law as the fundamental guideline, studied and implemented Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law in depth, and insisted on occupying the position of legal education and legal theory research with Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law in all aspects. In the great journey of adhering to the rule of law and promoting the construction of China under the rule of law, we have taken cross-discipline as the lead, and we have been striving to make progress, and we have not been slack in our efforts.

This year, the School of Law adhered to the academic first, took the initiative to serve the national strategy, social concerns, and corporate needs, and endeavored to find new fields, new tracks, new momentum, and new advantages. The National Key Research and Development Program Research on Comprehensive Analysis of Public Opinions on Legislation and Intelligent Review Technology of Legal Provisions led by the School of Law passed the mid-term assessment successfully, and the number of projects established by the National Social Science Foundation reached a record high again. The quality of CLSCI papers and papers published in CSSCI source journals of the School of Law increased. The School of Law added provincial and ministerial-level think tanks, and a number of think tank results were approved by national leaders, which further enhanced the ability to provide political advice.

This year, the School of Law adhered to the warm and sharp cultivation, and endeavored to cultivate outstanding rule of law talents who are top-notch leaders. Two courses were awarded the first batch of national online model courses for law degree students. Two doctoral students were awarded the projects of major and general projects of China Law Society's ministerial research program. A student was honored as Star of Self-improvement of Chinese University Students. The student teams won good results in China International Internet+ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition for College Students and the 18th Challenge Cup National College Students' Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition, etc. Four dissertations won the Jiangsu Province Excellent Doctoral Degree. Four dissertations were honored as Jiangsu Excellent Doctoral and Master's Dissertations.

In this year, the Law School insisted on the principle of teachers are the foundation, implemented the strategy of strengthening the School with talents, and opened up the promotion channels for teachers. A number of teachers were promoted to young chief professors, special professors, second-class professors, third-class professors and fourth-class professors. Many teachers were honored with the title of provincial and ministerial talents.

This year, the School of Law adhered to the principle of applying what we learn and actively served the construction of China's rule of law. The School of Law facilitated the signing of a cooperation agreement between Jiangsu Provincial People's Procuratorate and Southeast University, and is committed to building a model of Jiangsu Province for the cooperation between prosecutors and universities. The School of Law helps Nanhua County in Yunnan Province to build a rule of law government and a rule of law society, and helps Nanhua County in Yunnan Province to win the battle of poverty alleviation with high quality.

In 2024, the School of Law of Southeast University will further study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law, closely focus on the practice of ruling the country according to law in the new era, rooted in Chinese culture, based on China's national conditions, and solving China's problems, and actively summarize and distill the concepts, views, and theories of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics that have the characteristics of the main body, originality, and identifiers, and explore the development of China's own legal knowledge system. We will actively summarize and refine the concepts, perspectives and theories of the rule of law with socialism with Chinese characteristics that are subjective, original and identifiable, and explore the construction of a Chinese-autonomous system of legal knowledge.

I sincerely wish you all good health, smooth work, family happiness and all the best in the new year!

Dean of the Faculty of Law, Ouyang Benqi

Secretary of the Party Committee of the Law School, Liu Qichuan

December 31, 2023