The School of Economics (SOE) at Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) was founded in 2011. The school’s history can be traced back to the mid-1980s when SOE offered a major in Industrial Foreign Trade. The school began recruiting undergraduate students to study Trade Economics in 1993 (which was renamed “Economics” in 1999). In 1996, the school began offering undergraduate programs in International Economics and Trade, Finance, and other disciplines. In 1999, SOE was authorized to offer a master’s degree in industrial economics. In 2006, another master’s degree was authorized in Regional Economics and Quantitative Economics. In 2010, SOE was authorized to offer a master’s degree in Applied Economics. In 2014, the school was approved to offer a master’s degree in Finance (MF). In 2018, a master’s degree in Theoretical Economics was approved. In 2019, SOE’s Financial Engineering major was approved as a “National First-Class Undergraduate Program”. In 2021, the school’s International Economics and Trade major received the same designation. In the same year, the Economics major was approved as a “Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Program”.

Relying on our university’s background strengths in engineering courses, and adhering to the motto of “Virtue, Rigor, Integrity and Creativity”, SOE is committed to cultivating high-caliber talents with “Global Vision, Civic Awareness, Creative Thinking, and Overall Excellence”. Adhering to the talent cultivation characteristics of “a combination of economics and engineering, and an integration of economics and management”, the school has already become an important base for the cultivation of talents in economic disciplines, scientific research, social service, cultural inheritance, and international cooperation and exchanges in the region.

The school currently has more than 100 high-quality faculty members, including about 20 professors and more than 40 associate professors. The faculty members have mostly graduated from renowned domestic and foreign universities such as Peking University, Renmin University of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Wuhan University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, the Australian National University, and the University of Western Australia. Six faculty members have obtained overseas doctoral degrees, and 27 have experience as overseas visiting professors. In Anhui Province, our full-time instructors include an academic and technical leader, an academic and technical leader candidate, an expert with special government allowances, two “teaching masters”, and four “promising teaching talents.” SOE’s faculty also features an “Overseas Famous Teacher” of the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE), five “Huangshan Scholar” distinguished professors (part-time), four doctoral supervisors, and 57 master’s supervisors.

SOE has a teaching and office area of 5,000 square meters, with departments including Economics, International Economics and Trade, and Financial Engineering in addition to Economics and Trade (Xuancheng Campus). Five educational support centers include the International Education Center (IEC), the Experimental Teaching Center, the Master of Finance Education Center, the Academic Exchange Center, and the School-Government-Enterprise Cooperative Education Center.

The school offers five undergraduate majors, including International Economics and Trade (Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools), Economics, Financial Engineering, an Innovative Pioneer Class in International Economics and Trade (digital economy and global economic and trade governance), and Digital Economy. SOE is accredited to grant master’s degrees in Applied Economics and Theoretical Economics and is also authorized to offer a master’s degree in Finance. The school has 1,300 undergraduate students and 370 graduate students.

In 2021, the school was approved by the Chinese MOE for its New Humanities and Social Sciences Research and Reform Project and became a pilot school for the Chinese MOE’s High-Level International Talent Cultivation Project. The faculty teams of International Economics and Trade (Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools) and Financial Engineering are recognized as “Provincial Teaching Teams.” Additionally, the Financial Engineering major has been approved as an “Anhui Higher Education Revitalization Project”.

The school has a national-level quality video open course, five school-enterprise collaborative education projects with the Chinese MOE, and three provincial-level school-enterprise cooperation practice bases. Furthermore, SOE has two provincial-level demonstrative experimental training centers, one textbook for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s “14th Five-Year Plan,” two first-class textbooks in Anhui Province, and 17 provincial first-class course construction projects. In the past five years, the school has won 48 quality engineering projects at or above the provincial level.

The school has an Anhui provincial key research base for humanities and social sciences in higher education (Industrial Information and Economic Research Center) and co-builds a provincial-level engineering center (Anhui Ecological Engineering Technology Research Center). The school has seven research institutes, including the Institute of Innovative Economics, the Institute of Economic Development, the Institute of Quantitative Economics, the Institute of International Economics and Trade, the Institute of Industrial Economics, the Institute of Finance, the Institute of Regional Economics, and the Institute of Digital Economics and Innovation Development.

In the past five years, a total of 34 national-level funding projects have been approved. Professor Wu Huaqing was granted a major program of the National Social Science Foundation in 2018, and Professor Hong Jin was granted a key program of the National Social Science Foundation in 2021. Over 100 high-level papers have been published in well-known domestic journals such as the Economic Research Journal, China Economic Quarterly, and internationally renowned journals such as Environmental and Resource Economics, the European Journal of Operational Research, Technovation, and the China Economic Review. More than ten national and provincial-level teaching and scientific research achievement awards have been received, and more than 20 academic monographs have been published.

The school attaches great importance to international exchanges and cooperation. The Chinese-foreign cooperative educational program with Clark University was approved by the Chinese MOE and has proven to be fruitful. The school has also established doctoral-level collaboration with Clark University. In addition, the school has a “2+1” graduate-level joint educational program with the Australian National University and a “2+2” undergraduate joint educational program with the University of Warsaw in Poland.

In recent years, the school has hosted or co-organized large-scale international academic conferences, such as the “The First China Economic Policy Evaluation Forum”, “World Manugacturing Convention 2021: Modern Metropolitan Coordinating Region and the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Forum”, “The Chinese Economists Society (CES) 2018 China Annual Conference” and the “Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) 2017 International Academic Conference”. The school has also carried out a series of teaching and research cooperation with more than ten universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries.

To build a “high-level, international, and distinctive research-oriented school”, the School of Economics has promoted talent cultivation over the years through high-quality scientific research. SOE continues to substantially contribute to the economic and social development of the local area and the country.

Updated in March 2024