Promotion of flourishing humanities and social sciences is an important component of Fudan University’s strategy towards becoming a world-class university. Fudan already had a large number of famous teachers and leading practices in the humanities and social sciences before the Communist Revolution. Adjustments during the nation’s youth, advances since national reform and opening up, participation in the “211 Plan,” the “985 Plan,” and the nation’s key support for philosophy and social sciences, all provided favorable historical circumstances for the development of the humanities at Fudan. At the same time, Fudan is located in Shanghai, where rivers meet the ocean and East meets West, leading to the open, free character of the humanities at Fudan.
Currently, there are about 1,300 faculty members that are engaged in teaching and research in Humanities and Social Sciences, among whom there are over 730 persons holding associate professorship or professorship. There are 12 schools, 5 research institutes, 7 “Project 985” Arts and Social Sciences Innovation Bases, 8 Key Research Centers of Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education and over 150 research centers.
The long- and medium-term goals of the humanities and social sciences at Fudan are to achieve the highest level in the nation; to become a center of innovation capable of embodying philosophy and social sciences with a Chinese approach and Chinese characteristics; and to build leading academic institutions and university think tanks in several important areas of research, developing an internationally influential Fudan approach in several key areas of research. To meet this goal, Fudan has been making an effort in recent years to implement its talent strategy, by forging a high-level teaching team; to implement its quality strategy, led by real ability and talent, firmly establishing a standard of evaluation which puts quality first; to implement its overall development strategy, working hard to become a backbone of national cultural transmission, theoretical innovation, and policy counsel; to implement its internationalization strategy, deepening international academic cooperation, strengthening research on international questions, building Chinese research centers abroad, and fighting for more of a voice in international academic circles.
The Office of Sciences and Humanities is a comprehensive functional department responsible for administration of the school’s humanities and social sciences research.
Fudan Development Institute
The Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) was founded in 1993, coinciding with the emergence of China's socialist-market economy. Since its establishment, the FDDI has pooling the strengths of various disciplines and conducted policy and strategy researches on key issues relevant to the development of both Shanghai and of China as a whole. The FDDI acts as an academic platform, functioning through project planning and resource integration, and supported by various kinds of research centers and part-time experts. Its framework is comprised as follows: Center for China Studies, Institute of Social Research, Contemporary China Social Life Data and Reseach Center, Shanghai Forum, State-Building Research Center, Financial Research Center, Shanghai-Hong Kong Development Institute, Fudan Tyndall Center, Center for BRICS Studies Fudan, Marxism Research Center(Department of Social Science), Communication and State Governance Center(College of Journalism), Political Party Diplomacy Research Center(Institute of International Affairs).
