A Study On The Administrative Legal Status Of Public University In China

Since 1990s, the administrative legal status of public university in our country has been of great concern by scholars. In current jurisprudence, although public university is orientated as juridical person of institution, its administrative legal status is not yet clearly defined, which causes the relationship between public university and government as well as their teachers or students to be not administrative legal one in the context of administrative law. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the administrative legal status of public university as to build up modern university in the spirit of law by regulating the administrative power of public university.This paper is made up of three parts.In the first chapter, the multiple legal status of public university is expatiated in terms of its civil subject, administrative subject and relative person. According to Civil Law, public university is qualified juridical person, namely, juridical person of institution, which enjoys civil rights according to lawful authorization and procedure, which undertakes corresponding legal responsibility for its illegal civil activities and complies with the provisions of the civil law. However, in china, existing statute can not definitely provide public university with administrative legal status. Meanwhile, some scholars have theoretically referred public university to be an organization authorized by law and regulation as well as a qualified administrative subject. Particularly, in the case that Tian Yong took legal proceedings against Beijing University of Science and Technology, the problem that whether public university has subjective qualification of respondent in administrative litigation has been solved through such theoretical application. At the same time, this case has initiated judicative assessment of internal managerial activities in public university. Besides, the public university, which owns the status as administrative relative person, makes up of administrative jurisprudence with other administrative subjects.In the second chapter, we review public university in the concrete legal relationships and studied. Legal relationships between public university and government as well as between public university and its teachers or students are inquired in the second chapter. With the increasingly deepening reform of educational system in public university, legalrelationships between public university and government as well as between public university and its teachers or students have changed a lot. In this paper, starting with the factual situation, distinct administrative relationships between public university and its teachers or students under different circumstances are analyzed. Then, the sketchy model of administrative legal status of public university is figured out. Thereinto the legal relationships between public university and government as well as between public university and its teachers have been focused on. Specially, when public university independently exercises its function endowed by educational law and higher educational law and runs legally, the legal relationship between public university and government belongs to exterior administrative relationship. While government controls and oversees administrative activities of public university, their relationship falls into interior administrative relationship. Whereas, legal relationship between public university and its teachers is experiencing transition from appointment to engagement, thus, a new style of legal relationship is gradually bringing new problems.Last but not least, given improvement in definition of administrative law status of public university and educational legal system is discussed in the third chapter. Currently, in China, we adopt the authorization theory to explain the administrative status of public university, however, the concept of "organization authorized by law and regulation " has a lot of drawbacks and has not solved the problems in a substrative way. Therefore, based on the administrative subject conceptual analysis, this paper concludes that public university is an organization that enjoys state administrative authorization, enables to implement administrative activities in self name, and shoulders corresponding legal responsibility for its illegal administrative activities, hence, public university is qualified as administrative subject. However, as Chinese saying goes that "stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one", the merits, existed in provisions of administrative legal subjective status of public university in jurisprudence in continental law system and Anglo-American law system, shall certainly enrich the concept of administrative subject and perfect the theory of administrative subject. Moreover, it is absolute and vital to improve legal system of petition and remedy and forge educational arbitration institution in order to truly safeguard the rights and interests of teachers and students.