The School of Finance traces its origins to the Shanghai Banking School established in 1952 and was once affiliated with the People's Bank of China, reflecting a long and distinguished history. Its Finance and International Finance programs were among the first such majors established in New China and have cultivated a large number of highly qualified professionals who now play active roles in major financial institutions. Located in the Pilot Free Trade Zone and adjacent to Lujiazui, the school enjoys a prime location, deep historical roots, strong industry connections, and outstanding disciplinary strengths. It actively contributes to Shanghai’s “Five Centers” initiative and the national strategy of Yangtze River Delta integration.

The school currently has 134 faculty and staff members, including 103 full-time teachers. Among them, there are 7 professors and 53 associate professors, with senior professional titles accounting for 59%. Additionally, 85% of faculty hold doctoral degrees, 38% have overseas study experience, and 89% are recognized as “dual-qualified” teachers. The school boasts a number of distinguished scholars, including 1 recipient of the State Council Special Allowance, 1 Shanghai Leading Talent, 2 Shanghai “Oriental Scholars” Distinguished Professors, 1 top talent under the Oriental Talents Program, 2 young talents under the same program, 2 “Dawn Scholars,” 3 “Pujiang Talents,” 2 “Morning Light Scholars,” 1 Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award winner, and 2 recipients of the Shanghai Yu Cai Award. It also has 2 Shanghai Municipal Outstanding Teaching Teams and 2 Shanghai Municipal Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Teams.

The school has been selected as a “Shanghai Leading College for Curriculum Ideology and Politics Reform” and a “Shanghai Demonstration College for Comprehensive 'Three-Way Education' Reform.” It has also been approved to pilot the Ministry of Education’s Virtual Teaching and Research Office for Finance and the “Smart Learning Factory for New Finance.” In addition, the school took the lead in establishing the “Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Industry Financial Service Collaborative Innovation Center” and set up the “Shanghai Pudong New Area Postdoctoral Innovation Practice Base.”

The school has achieved remarkable results in discipline development and talent cultivation. With a history of over 70 years, its Finance program has been recognized as a National Characteristic Specialty, a Shanghai Educational Highland, a Shanghai Comprehensive Reform Pilot Program, and part of Shanghai’s First-Class Undergraduate Program. Both Finance and Financial Engineering have been selected as National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Sites. The school offers a Master of Finance program, focusing on green finance, fintech, and international finance, to cultivate high-level applied financial professionals. It has 3 national first-class courses and over 40 municipal-level first-class, elite, key, or full-English demonstration courses. The school has repeatedly received honors such as the Shanghai Teaching Achievement First Prize and Shanghai Outstanding Textbook Award. Finance has been selected as a “Shanghai Municipal Key Discipline,” while Applied Economics, with Finance at its core, has been chosen as a “Shanghai First-Class Discipline (Category B Cultivation).” Additionally, “New Finance and Risk Management” has been recognized as a Shanghai Plateau Discipline (Category II). In recent years, the school has undertaken more than 30 national-level projects, including Key Projects of the National Social Science Fund and General Projects of the National Natural Science Fund, over 40 provincial/ministerial-level projects, and more than 100 enterprise projects. Faculty have published over 400 high-quality papers in Chinese and English academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, and have authored more than 60 books and textbooks.

Adhering to the talent cultivation principles of “industry-education integration” and “balancing theory and practice,” the school emphasizes reforms in education models driven by information technology. It has established the “Pujiang Class” in collaboration with the Agricultural Bank of China Shanghai Branch to deepen school-bank cooperation in tailored talent training. Together with Guosen Securities, it has set up a provincial-level investor education base—Lixin Investor Education Base—to explore innovative securities-school collaboration models. The school has also founded the Modern Industry College of Sci-Tech Finance, established over 30 off-campus industry-university-research bases, and built the Shanghai Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center—Modern Finance Experimental Teaching Center. Students have won numerous national and provincial awards in competitions such as the “Challenge Cup” and “Internet+.”

The school places great emphasis on internationalization and has signed cooperation agreements with several overseas universities, including NEOMA Business School (France), Royal Holloway, University of London (UK), Curtin University (Australia), and University of Bradford (UK). It has also collaborated with well-known domestic universities to establish the “China Finance Education Golden Course Alliance” and the “Yangtze River Delta University Finance Education Alliance,” actively promoting resource sharing and deepening exchanges and cooperation.