Department of Finance at University of Shanghai for Science and Technology has a time-honored history, originally formed in 1932 as the Department of Banking, established by the president of the Hujiang University, Dr. LIU Zhan’en (also named as Downtown School of Commerce). Downtown School of Commerce at Shanghai Institute of Mechanism is established by the alumni of the Hujiang University from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in 1988. In 1989, the finance teaching and research section was founded. In 1992, the department of finance was formally established and begin to enroll the undergraduate students in finance. In 1995, the department cooperated with the Syracuse University to cultivate postgraduates in finance together. In 1996, the department was approved to award the master degree in economics and investments (afterwards renamed as national economics). In 2003, the department was approved to award the master degree in public finance. In 2005, the department was approved to award the master degree in finance. The department applied for the approval of awarding the doctoral degree in the second-level discipline financial engineering (belonging to the first-level discipline management science and engineering). In 2008, the first-level discipline applied economics, including finance as a second-level discipline, entered the key discipline project of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. In 2012, following the spirit of the [2011]12th document “The notice of doing well in awarding the master and doctoral degrees and in the self-setting of the second-level disciplines for cultivating postgraduates” published by the Academic Degree Commission of the State Council, the department applied for and achieves the approval of carrying out the doctoral degree program of the second-level discipline financial management engineering (belonging to the first-level discipline management science and engineering). In 2014, the department was approved to award the specialized master degree in finance. In 2015, the department was approved to set up the major in taxation. In 2018, the taxation major and the related faculty members were independent from the department of finance to form the department of public finance and taxation. In the same year, the finance major achieved the AACSB accreditation. Only a few business schools complete the AACSB accreditation in finance in China. 

The department of finance experienced the merge of two institutions. The academic level of the department was greatly enhanced. At the beginning of the new century, the board of directors for the Development Bank of Singapore was grateful to the department for the careful cultivation. They invited dozens of undergraduate students to take internships in their bank. The reception was warm and considerate. After the merge of two institutions, many outstanding PhDs from the domestic and overseas prestigious universities joined the department. In the department, several young faculty members have the visiting experience in the overseas top research institutions. In recent years, the department has undertaken lots of the national and provincial research projects supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Social Science Fund of China, the Humanities and Social Science Fund of the Ministry of Education, and the Shanghai Social Science Fund, etc. More than 200 research papers are published in the academic journals indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and the Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI), etc. Nearly 10 research monographs and more than 20 textbooks are published. The department has two top quality courses of Shanghai municipality, five key courses of Shanghai municipality, one excellent demonstration course of the ideological and political education, two excellent online courses, and two excellent courses of the integration of the online and offline teaching ways. The department also has two first prizes of the school-level excellent teaching achievements. The faculty members win the Shanghai municipal outstanding social science achievement award, the Jilin provincial outstanding social science achievement award, the Shanghai municipal talents cultivation award, and also win the honored titles including the ‘Sanba red flags collective’ awarded by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the ‘women civilized posts’ awarded by the Shanghai municipality, etc. 

Educational Objectives

In the era of internet plus and big data, the finance major insists on the construction idea of serving social demands. The major relies on the science and technology characters of our university and on the deep academic foundation of the system engineering discipline at Business School. The major aims to cultivate the compound, creative, and practical professional talents of the high professional quality and broad international vision. They will master the fundamental theories of finance, mathematics and computer science. They can analyze and solve practical financial problems with artificial intelligence, big data, and the system engineering methods.   

Research Areas

The Master of Finance Program: Financial Policies and Management, the Theory and Practice in Corporate Finance, and Financial Service Markets, etc.

The Specialized Master of Finance Program: Financial Institutions and Risk Management, Capital Markets and Wealth Management, Financial Engineering and Quantitative Investments, and Financial Technologies and Financial Innovation, etc.

Admissions

Undergraduate Program: Finance

Postgraduate Programs: Finance, Specialized Finance

Graduations

The graduates can do the jobs about banking, securities business, insurance business and trust business in the commercial banks, securities (funds) companies, insurance companies, trust and investment companies, etc. They can also do the jobs about investment analysis, foreign exchange management, fund management, and financing analysis, etc., in the industry and commerce enterprises, governmental and administrative institutions, consulting firms, and accountancy firms, etc.   

Faculty 

The Department of Finance has 22 faculty members, of whom two are professors, nine are associate professors and eleven are lecturers. 20 of them have doctoral degrees. Six of them have overseas doctoral degrees. Six of them are visiting scholars in the foreign top universities. More than 50% faculty members have the international academic backgrounds.