SISU | Shanghai International Studies University

Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) was founded in December 1949. It is the first higher foreign language institution established after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the birthplaces of foreign language education in New China. It is a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education and co-built with Shanghai, and is included in the national "211 Project" and "Double First-Class" construction.

Shanghai International Studies University adheres to the school motto of "high character, far-reaching ambition, and comprehensive knowledge of both China and foreign countries" and the school philosophy of "interpreting the world and achieving the future". With the mission of "serving national development, serving the all-round growth of people, serving social progress, and serving cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries", it has deepened the "multi-language +" school strategy and the education reform centered on "cross-border, intercommunication, and integration", cultivated outstanding international talents who "know languages, understand countries, and are proficient in fields", and is committed to building a world-class foreign language university with distinctive characteristics in the fields of national, regional and global knowledge.

Historical inheritance

Shanghai International Studies University is the same age as the People's Republic of China. Its predecessor was the Shanghai Russian School attached to the East China People's Revolutionary University. The first president was Jiang Chunfang, a famous Russian translator, publisher, and founder of the Chinese encyclopedia. After the inheritance and transformation of the Foreign Language School attached to the East China People's Revolutionary University, the Shanghai Russian School, and the Shanghai International Studies University, it was listed as a national key university by the Ministry of Education in 1963. In 1985, the English name of the school was determined as "Shanghai International Studies University" (abbreviated as "SISU") with the approval of the Ministry of Education, and it was officially renamed "Shanghai International Studies University" in 1994.

With the fragrance of books and calligraphy, and the fragrance of students and talents, many outstanding masters such as Gu Xingqing, Ling Dayang, Li Jiaxiang, Xia Zhongyi, Fang Zhong, Xu Zhongnian, Wang Yansheng, Wang Jiyu, Xu Tianfu, Lin Dingsheng, Yan Qingxi, Yan Disheng, Yang Shoulin, Yue Yanglie, Yao Ning, Zhou Tuimi, Qi Zhusheng, Qian Weifan, Lu Peixian, Pu Yunan, Zhang Zhenbang, Xu Baikang, Yang Xiaoshi, Xue Fankang, Li Guanyi, Wang Hong, Qi Yucun, Hu Menghao, Gu Bolin, Wang Dechun, Xu Xianxu, Yu Kuangfu, Hou Weirui, Xie Tianzhen, etc., have gathered here to teach and create and enrich the humanistic tradition of SISU.

School Advantages

Since its establishment, Shanghai International Studies University has always maintained its leading disciplinary advantages and high-level teaching quality. It is the university with the largest number of first-level doctoral degree authorization points and postdoctoral research mobile stations (foreign languages ​​and literature, political science, and business administration) among similar institutions in the country. It ranks among the top in China in international indicators such as the QS World University Rankings, and was rated A+ (foreign languages ​​and literature) in the subject evaluation of the Ministry of Education, ranking first in the country.

SISU strives to promote the construction of "strategic languages" to provide the most needed key talent reserves for national and local development and promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. SISU currently offers 49 languages ​​for instruction, including 37 modern languages ​​such as Russian, English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Persian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Swedish, Dutch, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Turkish, Hindi, Hungarian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Polish, Czech, Swahili, Serbian, Romanian, Tajik, Belarusian, Urdu, Pashto, Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, and Chinese. SISU also offers 12 classical languages ​​and international auxiliary language courses such as Latin, Ancient Greek, Esperanto, Sanskrit, Old English, Classical Syriac, Pahlavi, Classical Nahuatl, Akkadian, Sumerian, Classical Hebrew, and Ottoman Turkish.

At present, SISU has fully formed a discipline pattern that is strong in language and literature, and has coordinated development of six major categories, including literature, education, economics, management, law, and engineering. It is diversified and distinctive. SISU currently has 3 national key disciplines (English language and literature, Russian language and literature, Arabic language and literature [cultivation]), 1 national non-common language undergraduate talent training base (Western European language group), 10 national characteristic professional construction sites and 21 national first-class undergraduate professional construction sites. Foreign language and literature has entered the list of national "double first-class" construction disciplines, and 6 disciplines, including foreign language and literature, political science, applied economics, education, journalism and communication, and business administration, have been listed as first-class disciplines in Shanghai universities (of which foreign language and literature is Class A).

SISU is a signatory university of the United Nations Memorandum of Cooperation and a partner of the Directorate-General for Interpretation of the European Commission. It is also a member of the International Association of University Translation and Interpreting Schools (CIUTI). It has the leading advanced translation school in Asia, has opened all six official language pairs of the United Nations, and has received the highest global rating from the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC).

Talent cultivation

SISU has a complete talent cultivation system with 55 undergraduate majors, covering 12 undergraduate major categories, including 34 language majors and 21 non-language majors; 8 first-level master's degree authorization points: foreign languages ​​and literature, political science, applied economics, education, Chinese language and literature, journalism and communication, business administration, Marxist theory, with 42 second-level master's degree authorization points; 8 master's professional degree authorization points: Master of Business Administration, Master of Translation, Master of Chinese International Education, Master of Finance, Master of Law, Master of International Business, Master of Journalism and Communication, Master of Public Administration; 3 first-level doctoral degree authorization points: foreign languages ​​and literature, political science, business administration, with 22 second-level doctoral degree authorization points; 3 postdoctoral research mobile stations: foreign languages ​​and literature, political science, business administration.

SISU actively serves the national “Belt and Road” initiative and the major strategy of “going global” of culture. It has taken the lead in proposing the “multi-language +” excellent international talent training strategy, innovating the education model, improving the school-running level through connotation construction, and striving to cultivate generalists who can participate in global affairs and specialists who are familiar with countries, regions and fields, and promote the training of excellent foreign language talents, multi-language high-end translation talents, multi-language international news communication talents, innovative talents in borderless business management, international innovative talents in applied economics, foreign-related legal talents, and talents in international organizations.

SISU has successively established a joint school-running system with Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), China Business Network (CBN), Shanghai Foreign Language Channel (ICS), etc., and implemented the credit recognition plan of universities in the Yangtze River Delta. SISU cooperates with the UK FutureLearn platform to carry out “MOOC” exploration and practice, promote the deep integration of information technology and teaching practice, and promote the innovation of educational concepts.

Excellent Research

Based on its comprehensive advantages of multilingualism, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, SISU actively connects with national and local strategies, continuously inherits and highlights the traditional characteristics of foreign languages ​​and literatures, relies on academic growth points such as political science, business administration and journalism and communication, gathers high-end research teams from China and abroad, collaborates and innovates to build a group of academic think tanks in universities, and enjoys a high academic status in the fields of language and literature, international relations, international communication and regional country studies.

SISU currently has 1 key research base for humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education / Shanghai University Think Tank (Middle East Institute), 1 scientific research base of the National Language and Writing Committee / National Language and Writing Think Tank (China Foreign Language Strategic Research Center), 1 Shanghai Municipal Key Research Base (Global Governance and Regional Country Research Institute), 2 co-built research bases with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center, China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Research Center), 3 regional and country research bases of the Ministry of Education (EU Research Center, Russia Research Center, UK Research Center) and 20 country and regional research centers of the Ministry of Education (recorded), 2 Sino-foreign humanities exchange research bases of the International Department of the Ministry of Education (China-UK Humanities Exchange Research Base, China-Germany Humanities Exchange Research Base), 1 co-built base of the Education Management Information Center of the Ministry of Education (International Comparative Research Center for Education Informatization), 2 key research bases for humanities and social sciences of Shanghai universities (G20 Research Center, Shanghai English Education and Teaching Research Base), 2 Shanghai Social Science Innovation Research Bases (China-foreign Cultural Soft Power Comparative Research Base, Regional Country Research Base from the Perspective of Language and Cultural Circles), and co-built a foreign cultural policy research base with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, which is a sub-center unit of the Shanghai Social Survey Research Center.

More than 100 research institutes and academic groups at SISU, with global governance and regional country studies as the core, have built a channel for the application of results that closely integrates politics, industry, academia, research and application, providing intellectual support for the formulation and implementation of relevant policies by national ministries and local governments, and a number of landmark scientific research results have emerged. Among them, the China-Arab Reform and Development Research Center, which was personally initiated by General Secretary Xi Jinping, has become an important ideological platform for China and Arab countries to exchange experiences in reform and opening up and governance. Five institutions, including SISU Middle East Institute, China International Public Opinion Research Center, China Foreign Language Strategy Research Center, British Research Center, and Silk Road Strategic Research Institute, were selected as "CTTI Source Think Tanks". SISU has gradually built research venues such as eye movement, EEG and corpus technology, and established an interdisciplinary joint laboratory for oral and written translation with iFLYTEK to promote cross-disciplinary research in linguistics, management, computer science and cognitive neuroscience, and promote cutting-edge exploration of artificial intelligence and natural language processing research.

SISU edits and publishes 18 academic journals, including Foreign Languages ​​(Journal of Shanghai International Studies University), Foreign Language Circles, Foreign Language Audiovisual Teaching, Chinese Comparative Literature, International Observation, Anglo-American Literature Studies, Arab World Studies, Asian Middle East and Islamic Studies (English), China International Review (English), Oriental Translation, Interpretation and Translation Studies (English), Foreign Language Testing and Teaching, Language Policy and Language Education, Research on French Major Teaching in China, Journal of the New Silk Road, Frontiers of Corpus Research, Research on English Education and Teaching, and Language Teaching for Young Learners (English). Among them, 7 are selected as source journals and included journals of the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI), and 4 English journals are published overseas, enjoying a high reputation in the academic community. SISU continuously promotes the overseas publication of Chinese academic journals and the translation and dissemination of Chinese academic masterpieces, strives to enhance academic influence and international discourse power, and promotes the prosperity and development of Chinese philosophy and social sciences.

International Vision

Shanghai International Studies University is one of the earliest universities in New China to carry out foreign exchanges. Foreign experts have worked at the university since its establishment. SISU regards internationalization as its core development strategy. It has established cooperative relations with nearly 440 universities, cultural and educational research institutions and international organizations in 62 countries and regions. It is one of the first universities in the world to sign cooperation framework agreements with the United Nations headquarters and its branches, the European Commission and the European Parliament. It has joined international academic alliances such as the International Alliance for Asian and African Studies, the China-UK Higher Education Humanities Alliance, the China-Russia Comprehensive University Alliance, and the China-Japan Humanities Exchange University Alliance.

SISU encourages young students to look at the world, grow in a multicultural environment, and fully absorb the outstanding achievements and advanced experience of world higher education. The proportion of undergraduate students studying abroad (overseas) is as high as 45% (2018). Every year, more than a thousand undergraduate and graduate students are funded by the China Scholarship Council to go abroad (overseas) for academic exchanges or to study for cooperative degrees. SISU implements the "Foreign Experts and Talents" plan, actively builds an international faculty team, and promotes international scientific research cooperation. More than 90% of the faculty have study experience abroad (overseas), and there are more than 340 foreign experts on campus.

Relying on long-term teaching practice and research, SISU has compiled and published various Chinese teaching materials for foreigners. Every year, about 4,000 international students from all over the world come to SISU to study Chinese and related degree courses, ranking among the top in China. SISU has cooperated with Naples Oriental University in Italy, Osaka Sangyo University in Japan, Catholic University of Peru, University of Szeged in Hungary, Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain, Hassan II University of Casablanca in Morocco, Samarkand State School of Foreign Languages ​​in Uzbekistan, University of Waterloo in Canada, City University of New York, and Aristotle University of Greece to open 10 Confucius Institutes, and opened an education center in Mexico, covering Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America, and is committed to promoting Chinese culture and communicating world civilizations.

Campus Facilities

SISU currently has two campuses, covering an area of ​​74.7 hectares. The Hongkou campus is located in the center of Shanghai, connected to Luxun Park and the modern and contemporary Shanghai culture circle of Duolun Road; the Songjiang campus is located at the foot of Sheshan, the "top of Shanghai" in the suburbs of Shanghai, and is adjacent to the Guangfulin site, the "root of Shanghai". The two have the same cultural context, but each has its own characteristics.

The Shanghai International Studies University Library is one of the central libraries of the National Foreign Languages ​​University Library Alliance. It has two buildings and more than ten special document rooms such as the Faisal Library. The library currently has more than 1.246 million paper documents (covering 65 languages), 1.45 million electronic books, 1,972 Chinese and foreign paper newspapers and periodicals, more than 20,000 electronic journals, 78 electronic resource databases, and 11 self-built special databases. The library's digital academic service platform preserves and shares academic achievements such as papers and works published by scholars from Shanghai International Studies University for a long time, and provides a series of services such as data archiving, management, publishing, retrieval, sharing, citation and statistical analysis for research processes and academic exchanges.

The World Language Museum of Shanghai International Studies University is themed "World Language Diversity" and is the first world language museum in China. It adheres to the concept of "Words, Worlds" and carries out public science education based on linguistics and its interdisciplinary academic theories. It is committed to inheriting and protecting intangible cultural heritage, building a global language knowledge system, and promoting dialogue between Chinese and foreign civilizations and cultural exchanges. It is a member of the China Museum Association and the National University Museum Education Alliance. SISU has advanced school facilities, including world-class simultaneous interpretation systems, language experimental equipment, etc., and has built a foreign language multimedia education resource library of considerable scale.

Social Services

For a long time, SISU has taken it as its mission to lead and promote the reform and development of foreign language education in China, and has always paid attention to academic popularization and knowledge dissemination. As one of the largest and most authoritative foreign language publishing bases in China, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (SFLEP) is a national first-class publishing house. It has published more than 10,000 books, textbooks and electronic publications in more than 40 languages, with a total print run of more than 1 billion copies and a reprint rate of more than 70%. In the Chinese Academic Book Citation Index (CBKCI), the number of books included in the Foreign Languages ​​and Literature category of Foreign Languages ​​and Literature Press has repeatedly ranked first, with a wide social influence. Shanghai Foreign Language Audiovisual Publishing House/Shanghai Foreign Language Electronics Publishing House is the first professional foreign language audiovisual electronic publishing unit in China. Its "Love Future" brand is well-known at home and abroad and is deeply loved byLoved by many foreign language learners.

SISU is a special unit of the Ministry of Education for the construction of network culture in colleges and universities and one of the first pilot units for educational media integration. It is the first among colleges and universities in the country to open a multilingual foreign portal website group and build a media integration center, telling Chinese stories in multiple languages, spreading Chinese voices through the Internet, and innovatively building a network education platform to promote the "going out" of Chinese higher education and help improve international communication capabilities. It has received special instructions from national leaders. In addition, teachers and students of SISU often appear in various major foreign-related activities such as high-end international conferences, sports events, and art performances, promoting the spirit of volunteerism, giving full play to their academic expertise, and providing professional multilingual services.

For more than 70 years since its establishment, teachers and students of SISU have always served at the forefront of the country's opening up to the outside world, with footprints all over the world, contributing to my country's diplomatic cause, economic construction, cultural prosperity, and social development, and to enhancing the friendship between China and people of all countries in the world.

Based on the new era, SISU has the "great cause of the country" in mind, and has clearly defined the "five major coordinates" in the new journey of building a world-class foreign language university, becoming an incubator for "multilingual +" outstanding talents, an innovation source for foreign language and literature disciplines, a key supplier of national and regional global knowledge, a strategic support for the construction of global discourse capabilities, and a demonstration and leading place for the reform and development of foreign language education.

(Updated in February 2022)