Founded in 1984, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law (SHUPL) focuses primarily on undergraduate education. With the tenet of “all for students”, the university attaches great importance to giving full play to students’ potential and individualism, offering every opportunity in academic innovation and free choice of learning, fostering their sense of social responsibility and capability to create and practice. With the key discipline of law, the university now has a multidisciplinary system composed of politics, economics, sociology, management, language and literature, etc. SHUPL is heading for the destination of being a characteristic and top university in China.
SHUPL now has three master programs: law theories, constitutional and administrative law studies, and criminology. The university is authorized to award master’s degree of law. Also the university has more than 30 undergraduate programs: law, penology, intellectual property, economics, business administration, financial management, international economics and trade, auditing, economics and finance, sociology, social work, labor and social security, applied psychology, politics and administration, international politics, public administration, Chinese language and literature, journalism, television broadcasting, English, Russian, ideological and political education. There are seven associate-degree programs including legal affairs etc. and three programs (law study, public administration and penology) for students who upgrade from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree.
The law study in SHUPL is listed as one of the top five universities in Shanghai. The university is also “Shanghai Training Base for Elire Legal Talents” and“Shanghai Training Base for International Elire Legal Talents”, and therefore is one of the double bases of the five universities in Shanghai. The two undergraduate programs of penology and social work are nationally characteristic majors. Our administrative law, criminology and economics are key disciplines in Shanghai. Administrative law and criminal sociology are funded by the national government. The university is well-known for its law study (in the direction of criminal justice), penology, social work, law, international politics in Shanghai. Legal education has a national field school.
The university also has a team of faculty with optimal age combination. Many teachers are in close touch with the professional circles home and abroad and have an international vision. With a staff of about 600, 500 of them are teachers, among whom nearly 50% are professors and associate professors, and 90% have doctor’s and master’s degrees. Eight are qualified PhD supervisors, 48 are qualified master supervisors.
SHUPL is actively engaged in China’s major diplomacy and security strategies. On September 13, 2013, President Xi Jinping proclaimed in the Bishkek Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization that China would found China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation in SHUPL, and would help train judicial personnel for other member countries. This is the first time that the head of state has declared that a national program is undertaken by a university. For two years the Political and Judiciary Commission under the Central Committee of CPC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education etc. have been standing behind SHUPL, and thus the program has been advancing and achieving success. In the meantime, in August 2015, SHUPL, together with Qinghua University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and China University of Political Science and Law, is listed by the Supreme Court as one of the judicial research bases of “One Belt, One Road”.
At present, there are more than 10,000 full-time students on campus, with various levels of postgraduates, undergraduates, associate-degree students and overseas students. The university is situated at the foot of Sheshan Mountain--the famous scenic resort in Shanghai, and is known as the “garden institute”, covering an area of over 72 hectares and floor area of 210,000 sq. m.
