Introduction of School of Economics, Peking University    

       School of Economics, Peking University (SEPKU) was established in 1985. Its predecessor is Department of Economics, established in 1912 by Mr. Yan Fu, after he was assigned the President of Peking University. SEPKU is one of the most historic faculties in the university, and the first economics faculty among China’s higher education institutions.

       The academic structure of SEPKU achieves highly integration of the theoretical economics and the applied economics, the economic history and the modern economics. Not only have we developed and maintained advantages of our academic traditions and leading disciplines, but also, in the spirit of innovation, we have established and gradually advanced some new disciplines to adapt to the needs of Chinese and global economic development.

       SEPKU currently has 6 undergraduate degree programs, offered respectively by its 6 academic departments, including the Department of Economics, the Department of Finance, the Department of International Economics and Trade, the Department of Insurance and Risk Management, the Department of Public Finance and the Department of Environmental, Resource, and Development Economics. The postgraduate program offers 4 professional master degrees, including Finance, Insurance, Tax and International Business and 7 research master degrees, including Political Economics, Western Economics, Economic History, History of Economic Thoughts in China, History of Economic Thoughts in Foreign Countries, World Economy, and the Population, Resource and Environmental Economics. The doctoral program offers Ph.D. degrees in 8 majors, including Political Economics, Western Economics, Finance (International Finance, Insurance), Economic History, History of Economic Thoughts, World Economy, Public Finance, and the Population, Resource and Environmental Economics. The school also has one post-doctoral research station, which was the first of its kind ever established in China.

       SEPKU is one of the “National Training Bases of Economics Talents” and “National Experimental Lab for Innovative Training of Talents” assigned by the Ministry of Education. Its prominent history, renowned academic status and innovative institution attract the best students in China and all over the world. In 2014, the School of Economics had 756 undergraduate students, 431 full-time graduate students (including 286 master students and 145 doctoral students) and about 1100 part-time postgraduate course students.

       SEPKU has a strong faculty consisting of both distinguished senior scholars and a large number of young academic leaders. In 2014, the school has 75 full-time faculty members in total, including 31 professors, 36 associate professors, and 8 assistant professors. There are also 58 post-doctoral research fellows in the school. One third of the faculty received their Ph. D overseas, and those who received domestic Ph. D also have intensive international academic experience, through frequent visiting, exchanges and joint research with prestigious universities and research institutes worldwide.

       SEPKU has 15 research institutes. Teaching and research complement and promote each other. The school applies its research capacity and cohesion of academics to undertake many research projects, including those sponsored by the National Social Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation, and the Ministry of Education.

       SEPKU aims at becoming one of the best economics institutions in the world. Led by Professor Zhiyong Dong, Dean of SEPKU, the school is actively expanding its key resources and working diligently to achieve its goal through research and teaching excellence.