Some 20,600 people are studying on Juris Master (J.M.) programs on Chinese campuses and the number is likely to top 50,000 in the next decade.

So far only 8,848 people have obtained J.M. degrees since the country started J.M. courses in 1995, said the National J.M. Education Steering Committee on Wednesday.

Chinese law schools also give a three-year education for Master of Law which aims at research and teaching on laws while J.M. focuses more on professional skill training to become lawyers, judges, prosecuting attorneys and officials of the judiciary.

According to the National J.M. Education Steering Committee, there are 39 law schools in China that offer J.M. programs. Last year more than 2,800 people were enrolled, up from 425 in 1996, from among 37,000 examinees.

In a country that places growing importance on laws, China is short of lawyers and judges. There are a total 102,000 certified lawyers in China for its population of 1.3 billion, 8,000 of whom had master's degrees.

J.M.s, whose undergraduate backgrounds are diversified, meet the needs of China's fast changing legal service and judicial work, said Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen in Beijing Wednesday.

The first National J.M. Education Steering Committee, aiming to promote J.M. education, was founded in January 1998 and the second one started its term here Wednesday with Zhang Fusen as chairman.

The committee will encourage more law schools of universities in less developed west China to open J.M. courses, said Prof. Zeng Xianyi, head of the Law School of the Renmin University of China and also the committee's vice chairman.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2004)