The School of Economics (SOE) at Hefei University of Technology was established in 2011, with its origins tracing back to the mid-1980s. After years of development, the school's economics discipline has earned a strong reputation both domestically and internationally, ranking 47th–59th in China in the "2022 ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects". Currently, the school offers Master's degree programs in Applied Economics and Theoretical Economics, as well as professional Master's degree programs in Finance and International Business. The school has developed distinctive research directions focusing on economic governance and high-quality development, innovation and the digital economy, international trade, economic statistics, and data science.

SOE offers five undergraduate programs. Financial Engineering and International Economics and Trade are designated as national first-class undergraduate programs, while Economics is recognized as a provincial first-class undergraduate program. The Digital Economy program, a cross-disciplinary program integrating engineering and economics, was established to cultivate high-level talents in this field and serve the digital economy development. In recent years, the school has placed great emphasis on fostering top-notch innovative talents. In 2021, it was approved for the Ministry of Education's New Liberal Arts Research and Reform Practice Project. From 2022 to 2024, students representing all undergraduate majors at SOE participated in 18 projects in the China International College Students' Innovation Competition (formerly the "Internet+" Competition), winning gold, silver, and bronze awards. In 2024, two students won national silver awards and eight won national bronze awards in the "Challenge Cup" National College Students Entrepreneurial Plan Competition.

SOE has a highly-qualified, innovative faculty team with strong development potential. It currently has 125 staff members, including 100 full-time faculty, among whom 22 are professors and 44 are associate professors. The faculty team includes 18 national or provincial-level/ministerial-level talents, 5 Huangshan Scholars, 4 doctoral supervisors, and 57 master's supervisors. SOE is home to key platforms such as Anhui Provincial Key Research Base for Humanities and Social Sciences in Higher Education, Anhui Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Think Tank, and Anhui High-Quality Development Research Institute.

From 2018 to 2024, SOE secured 56 national-level funding projects, including the National Social Science Fund major project and key project. Faculty members have published over 100 papers in high-impact domestic and international journals such as Economic Research Journal, China Economic Quarterly, The Journal of World Economy, China Industrial Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Environmental and Resource Economics, and European Journal of Operational Research. They have also won more than 10 national and provincial teaching and research awards, published over 20 academic monographs.

SOE attaches great significance to international exchange and cooperation, maintaining close partnerships with more than 10 renowned universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries. Besides the International Economics and Trade (Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools) program, SOE also has the “2+1” postgraduate program with the Australian National University and a “2+2” undergraduate joint educational program with the University of Warsaw in Poland.

SOE has always adhered to its vision of becoming a high-level, internationalized, and distinctive research-oriented school. With "cultivating virtue and nurturing talent" as its fundamental mission, SOE prioritizes discipline development and facilitates high-quality talent cultivation by promoting high-level scientific research, greatly promoting the development of SOE. These efforts have significantly improved the quality of talent cultivation and contributed substantially to national and local economic and social development.

Updated in May 2025