Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, as one of China's key universities under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and one of the key developing universities of the national “Project 211”, was founded in 1952. The university is situated near Du Fu Memorial Hall in Chengdu which is a Famous Historical and Cultural City. After 50 years' development, the school now features an educational system of economics and management being the main body with finance being the focus.
The finance discipline of the university has a long history and has made great
achievements in the construction of the discipline. It enjoys high prestige and great influence in China's financial industry and financial education. In 1952, the major of financial credit was established. In 1978, the Department of Fiscal Finance began to recruit undergraduates majoring in finance. In 1979, the Department of Finance was set up. It has enrolled master's degree students majoring in money and banking since 1981, and recruited undergraduates majoring in international finance since 1987. In 1990, the major of money and banking was granted the right to confer doctorates. The School of Finance was established in 1997, integrating the previous Department of Finance, Department of International Finance, Teaching and Research Center of International Finance, as well as the Teaching and Research Center of Rural Finance under the Department of Rural Economics.
The teaching staff of the school is of high quality. Prominent scholars such as Peng Dixian, He Gaozhu, Mei Yuanmou, Cheng Yingqi, Wen Sifang, He Ruiqi, Wang Guixin etc. had been teaching and doing scientific research in our school. Since the Reform and Opening-up, a large number of well-known financial experts who are influential home and abroad have emerged. They include Professor Zeng Kanglin, Professor He Zerong, Professor Feng Zhaobo, Professor Liu Xiliang, Professor Lin Yi, Professor Zhuo Zhi, Professor Liu Jun, Professor Yin Mengbo, and Professor Chen Yehua etc.
Thanks to the joint efforts of several generations, there has been a huge progress in finance discipline. In 2002 and 2007, finance was rated as the National Key Discipline by Education Ministry. In 2000, with the approval of Education Ministry, China Finance Research Center of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics was founded, which has been the national key research base of art and also the largest training center for talented people in finance. Alumni pervade the financial industry of China and overseas financial institutions.
The School of Finance now offers bachelor, master and doctoral degree programs. The bachelor's degree programs include finance, financial engineering and bilingual finance; the master's degree programs include finance, financial engineering and credit management; the doctor's program is finance. By the end of September 2008, there were nearly 2400 undergraduates, 1000 postgraduates and nearly 70 PhD students majoring in finance.
There are four subordinate departments and one center in the school: the Department of Finance, the Department of Portfolio Investment, the Department of Financial Engineering, the Department of Credit Management and the Teaching Center for Bilingual Finance. The School of Finance now has a staff of more than 60, including 49 teachers, 10 doctoral tutors, 10 professors, 29 associate professors and 10 lecturers. In addition, several experts from the finance industry have been employed as adjunct professors.
The major research fields of finance discipline cover monetary and financial theory, bank management, capital markets, corporate finance, asset pricing, finance engineering, credit management, rural finance and small enterprise financing etc.
The School of Finance also offers open education through cooperation with the finance industry. In 2007 the management team of China Merchants Bank was invited to give a course called “the latest banking practices” for the postgraduates. In 2008, the “golden sunflower” finance experimental class was set up. In 2008,“Guoxin lecture” was introduced from Guoxin Security Corporation to teach practice and development of capital markets.
The School of Finance has always attached great importance to academic exchanges home and abroad. Some famous economists like Mondale, Ryutaro Komiya, J.S.Duesenberry, Dybvig, Gerley etc. had given lectures in our school. Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the school successfully held financial analysis and planning skills training courses, which were sponsored by the People's Bank of China, the International Monetary Fund, and organized the 1997 China's financial discipline construction and development seminar. The School of Finance also hosted “The Seminar on the Global Financial Development Oriented to 21st Century”,“the China Seminar on the Consolidation of Financial Assets”,“The Senior Seminar on the Stages and Development Strategy of China's Securities Market”,“The International Seminar on the Course Construction of Finance and Bilingual Teaching”,“the Bankers' Forum”,“American Subprime Debt Crisis and its Referential Experiences”, China Finance Forum which has been held for 7 consecutive years, Sino-German seminar on monetary policy which has been held for 8 consecutive years and other seminars. Having been widely accepted as a high-level financial summit in the field, these seminars have had great impact on academia and the industry. In addition, the school maintains close academic ties and cooperation with many renowned scholars, experts, universities and banks, both home and abroad.
The university initiates innovation on management mechanism. In 2007, the university successfully invited Professor Liu Jun who is a professor of UCSD to be the dean of Finance School.
