Established in 2021, the School of International Studies at Nanjing University is dedicated to researching and teaching in international relations, world politics, and national security. The origins of international political research at Nanjing University date back to the establishment of thepolitical science departments of Southeast University and Central University in 1921, and the political science department of Nanking University in 1924. After the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, research on international issues at Nanjing University continued to thrive and developed its own academic characteristics.
The School of International Studies has two departments: International Politics and Diplomacy & International Affairs. It is supported by the Collaborative Innovation Center for South China Sea Studies and the Huazhi Institute for Global Governance Research, and also hosts the journal Asia-Pacific Security and Maritime Affairs. With its century-long history in political science education, it has been selected as a first-level, key discipline in Jiangsu Province, a key discipline during Jiangsu Province's 13th Five-Year Plan, an advantageous discipline among universities in Jiangsu Province, as well as part of the Ministry of Education's Double First-Class initiative. It is also a vice president unit under China National Association for International Studies (CNAIS). In response to national needs, the school actively promotes disciplines such as national security and international organizations with the goal of making national security studies a first-rank discipline in Jiangsu Province.
The school has a complete talent development system, including undergraduate programs focusing on international politics, now recognized as one of the best programs in universities within Jiangsu Province; master’s degree programs focusing on both international politics and international relations; a doctoral program in political science; a mobile post-doctoral station in political science. The school attaches great importance to the globalization of education and offers the master's degree course in “China & Global Affairs” in English for students from all over the world.
With specialization, internationalization, and echelon as its guiding principles, the school currently has 18 full-time faculty members, all of whom hold doctoral degrees. Among them are young talents who have studied at famous universities in countries such as the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. The school also employs several renowned scholars as part-time professors. The research team has formed significant academic characteristics and achievements in areas such as great power politics and diplomacy; South China Sea issues and maritime security; comparative politics and regional studies; international relations in East Asia.
The college focuses on fostering students' moral character and patriotism and strives to develop highly skilled talents with international perspectives, cross-cultural understanding, and strategic thinking. The college works closely with the School of Government at Nanjing University and Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. In terms of talent cultivation, special emphasis is placed on comprehensive interdisciplinarity, and internationality. In recent years, graduates of the International Politics program have played active roles in diplomacy and foreign affairs at various levels of government agencies, multinational corporations, academic research institutions, media organizations, international organizations etc., through research and teaching, policy research, international communication, and humanistic exchange.
The college has a very good foundation for social services and think tank construction. The Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies is a national collaborative innovation center under the “2011 Plan”; while the Huazhi Institute for Global Governance Research is a new type of think tank built through cooperation between Jiangsu province and the university. The School makes full use of its talent advantages as a new high-end think tank, connecting experts and scholars inside and outside the school to respond to the questions of our time and national needs, and continuously provide advice for central decision-making, national strategy, and local development.
Faculty members will closely focus on the goal of building world-class disciplines (Double First-Class Initiative), actively responding to national strategic demands, persistently establishing an International Studies School with reform spirit, developing it into one with top quality consciousness, and strengthening it through hard work. In terms of discipline construction, talent cultivation, faculty building, academic research, social services, and other aspects, the School will continue to innovate, and strive tirelessly to become a first-class International Studies Schoolmaking significant contributions to Nanjing University’s goal-- The First NJU.(Online: December 31st，2021)
