Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics is a national key university directly administered by the Ministry of Education and one of the first universities included in the national Double First-Class initiative.

Located in Chengdu, a renowned historical and cultural city in China’s “Land of Abundance,” it has Guanghua and Liulin campuses covering more than 2300 mu. With lakes, willows, lawns, trees and a vibrant scholarly community, it is a celebrated garden-style university.

It traces its origins to Guanghua University, founded in Shanghai in 1925. In 1938, Guanghua University established its Chengdu branch after relocating inland during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In 1952-1953, finance and economics departments from 17 institutions in southwest China were brought together to form Sichuan Institute of Finance and Economics, one of four finance and economics institutions established under the regional higher education layout in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Following divisions, mergers and name changes after 1960, its name was restored to Sichuan Institute of Finance and Economics in 1978. In 1979, administration was transferred from the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government to the People’s Bank of China, gradually creating its distinctive financial industry background and strong disciplinary advantages in finance. It was renamed Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in 1985, became a key national Project 211 university in 1997, and was transferred as an independent institution to the Ministry of Education in 2000. It joined the national Project 985 Innovation Platform for Advantageous Disciplines initiative in 2011 and the national Double First-Class initiative in 2017.

It has 26 teaching units, including schools and research institutes, and 46 undergraduate programs. It has over 15300 regular full-time undergraduates, more than 8500 master’s students and over 1400 doctoral students. Since its founding, it has educated many outstanding people for national economic and social development, becoming an important training base for high-level professionals in finance, economics, management and related fields. In recent years, at least 50% of undergraduates have pursued further study in China or abroad.

Its teaching and research institutions with strong faculty include a national training base for top economics students, a national university student cultural quality education base, a national practical legal education base, and an innovative practice base for high-level international talent training. It has a national demonstration center for faculty teaching development, 3 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, and 25 national first-class undergraduate program development sites. Its journals Economist and Finance and Economics have been recognized respectively as a nationally renowned university social sciences journal and a quality journal. Its English-language journal Financial Innovation is a TOP journal in the first quartile of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ broad economics category and ranks third worldwide by impact factor in the JCR Social Sciences, Mathematical Methods category. Four textbooks, including Accounting, received second prizes in the first National Textbook Development Awards. Professor Liu Shibai was named an Advanced Individual in the National Textbook Development Awards. Chinese Finance and Chinese Public Finance were selected for the first group of Chinese economics textbooks. Its well-stocked modern digital library is currently southwest China’s largest finance and economics documentation center. It also has the Museum of Money and Finance, the only monetary museum at a university in southwest China.

The university continually strengthens strategic guidance for disciplinary development, aiming to create a distinctive, strong, well-structured and dynamic disciplinary ecosystem. It has 10 first-level disciplines authorized to award doctoral degrees: Theoretical Economics, Applied Economics, Business Administration, Statistics, Law, Sociology, Management Science and Engineering, Marxist Theory, Mathematics, and Public Administration. It has 4 first-level disciplines authorized to award master’s degrees; 3 professional doctoral degree categories in Accounting, Auditing and Social Work; and 19 professional master’s degree categories. Finance, Political Economy, Accounting and Statistics are its 4 national key disciplines. It has 6 postdoctoral research stations in Theoretical Economics, Applied Economics, Business Administration, Management Science and Engineering, Statistics, and Law. Applied Economics is included in the world-class discipline initiative. Economics and Business ranks in the ESI global top 1‰, placing 50th worldwide and second in China. Five disciplines—Social Sciences, General; Engineering; Computer Science; Environment and Ecology; and Mathematics—rank in the ESI global top 1%. It made important progress and major breakthroughs in the Ministry of Education’s fifth discipline assessment. Business Administration has both EQUIS and Chinese High-Quality MBA accreditation. It was the first institution in mainland China to obtain both AACSB business and accounting accreditation.

The university implements a strategy of deeper openness, strengthening international exchange and cooperation at high levels, across broad fields and through multiple channels. It has extensive partnerships with more than 200 renowned universities, research institutions and prominent enterprises in over 40 countries and regions. It has approval for 4 Sino-foreign joint education programs and 1 Sino-foreign joint education institution. It was selected among the first Innovative Practice Bases for High-Level International Talent Training and among Sichuan’s first pilot institutions for international student education quality accreditation. It was among the first institutions nationally authorized to award master’s degrees in the first-level discipline of Area and Country Studies. Its Center for African Studies is registered with the Ministry of Education as a country and regional studies center. It has established a Confucius Institute at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in North Macedonia and Sichuan’s first Chengdu Base for the International Promotion of Chinese. Its Global Academy international academic summer camp continues to grow in influence. Foreign experts at the university have repeatedly received the Chinese Government Friendship Award and Tianfu Friendship Award.

The university began admitting international students in 1996 and was designated by the Ministry of Education as a key institution for international student education in 2001. In 2004, it established the College of International Education to coordinate international student affairs university-wide and provide Chinese language teaching. To date, the college has admitted thousands of international students from over one hundred countries, including the United States, France, Germany, the Philippines, Türkiye, Australia, Mongolia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Israel, Russia and Thailand, to study Chinese and professional courses. It has established and refined a system of Chinese-taught and fully English-taught undergraduate, master’s and doctoral education, forming a multilevel international student education model covering language study and Chinese- and English-taught programs. It also actively hosts and customizes distinctive short-term programs, including Chinese Bridge and the SWUFE Chinese Language Summer Camp. These provide immersive experiences for young people visiting China by combining practical Chinese language courses with varied Chinese cultural experiences such as calligraphy, tai chi and tie-dyeing. Students also visit well-known local businesses and communities in Chengdu, improving their Chinese communication skills while experiencing the economic vitality and cultural appeal of contemporary Chinese society firsthand.

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