Shanghai Maritime University

Chinese higher maritime education began in Shanghai. In 1909, the shipping department of Shanghai Higher Industrial School, also known as Nanyang Public School, under the late Qing Ministry of Posts and Communications pioneered higher maritime education in China. Wusong Merchant Marine School was established in 1912 and renamed Wusong Merchant Marine College in 1933. In 1959, the Ministry of Communications established Shanghai Maritime Institute in Shanghai. With Ministry of Education approval, it was renamed Shanghai Maritime University in 2004. To better serve the development of Shanghai as an international shipping center and the national shipping industry, its main operations moved to Lingang New City in 2008 under Shanghai’s university layout restructuring plan. It held a series of centenary celebrations in 2009.

Shanghai Maritime University is a multidisciplinary university distinguished by shipping, logistics and marine studies, covering engineering, management, economics, law, literature, science and arts. In 2008, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Ministry of Transport signed an agreement to jointly develop the university.

It has 2 postdoctoral research stations, in transportation engineering and electrical engineering; 2 first-level doctoral disciplines, transportation engineering and management science and engineering; 19 second-level doctoral degree authorizations; 13 first-level and 59 second-level master’s degree authorizations; 6 professional master’s degree authorizations; 10 Master of Engineering fields; and 47 undergraduate programs. It has 11 provincial or ministerial key research bases, 1 national key discipline under cultivation, 1 Shanghai peak discipline, 2 Shanghai plateau disciplines and 9 ministerial or municipal key disciplines. Engineering ranks in the global ESI top 1%. It has 5 national distinctive programs, 1 national comprehensive reform pilot program, 6 programs under the Ministry of Education’s Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program and 17 Shanghai undergraduate education highland programs. It has 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 2 national virtual simulation experimental teaching demonstration centers, 5 national practical teaching demonstration centers and 1 national model joint training base for engineering professional degree postgraduate students. Its Water Training Center has the ten-thousand-ton-class container training ship Yufeng and the 48000-ton bulk carrier training ship Yuming.

The university received excellent ratings in the Ministry of Education’s 2004 undergraduate teaching evaluation and 2006 English program teaching evaluation. In 2017, annual total science and technology funding reached RMB 300 million. It obtained a range of national research projects and science and technology progress awards at ministerial or municipal level and above.

It uses a two-tier university-and-school management system. Its second-level educational units include the Merchant Marine College, College of Transport and Communications, School of Economics and Management with the Asian Cruise Academy, Logistics Engineering College with the Sino-Dutch Mechatronics Engineering College, School of Law, College of Information Engineering, College of Foreign Languages, College of Ocean Science and Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences with the School of Marxism, Xu Beihong Academy of Arts, Institute of Logistics Science and Engineering, and Shanghai Advanced Institute of International Shipping. It has over 23000 students, including over 17000 undergraduates, over 4000 postgraduate students of various kinds and over 700 international students. Among over 1100 full-time teachers are 156 professors, and approximately 60% of teachers hold doctorates. Dedicated to training specialized professionals at all levels for the national shipping industry, it has supplied many graduates to port and shipping enterprises and institutions and government departments throughout China. It is known as “the cradle of senior shipping professionals.”

In 2013, it established the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Supply Chain Research Institute and Shanghai Advanced Institute of International Shipping. The research institute integrates free trade zone development with supply chain research to improve industrial chain development in the zone, promote a transition from trade in goods to trade in services and support changes in government regulatory functions. The advanced institute adopts leading international business school operating models and shares resources with outstanding educational institutions worldwide. It aims to develop a shipping finance education brand that is leading in China and internationally recognized, and an influential base for training high-level shipping professionals.

In 2008, over 20 organizations, including the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Urban and Rural Construction and Transport, Shanghai Maritime University and Hongkou District People’s Government, jointly initiated the Shanghai International Shipping Institute. Based at the university, the institute researches and advises on international shipping development, providing decision-making advice and information services to governments, Chinese and foreign enterprises, and shipping organizations. It was among the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission’s first “University Knowledge Service Platforms.” In 2014, the commission designated it a “Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center.”

The university has exchange and cooperation relationships with over 80 overseas sister institutions, involving faculty exchanges, cooperative education, collaborative research and student exchanges. It has close links with renowned international shipping organizations and institutions including the United Nations International Maritime Organization, BIMCO and Det Norske Veritas. Since 2010, it has offered “international classes,” inviting students from maritime institutions in the United States, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Germany and other countries to study navigation technology, shipping management and other subjects. In 2011, with Ministry of Education approval, it began a cooperative undergraduate logistics management program with Regional Maritime University in Ghana and started recruiting students in Africa. This was the first overseas educational program by a Shanghai local university to award a Chinese university undergraduate qualification. In 2012, the Ministry of Education formally approved it as a host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship students.