Founded in 1960, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE, former Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade) was affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now the Ministry of Commerce) until September 1994, since then it has been under the administration of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. In April 2013, it was granted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) a university status and renamed Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE).

SUIBE consists of 12 schools, i.e. School of Business, School of Foreign Languages, School of Finance, School of Law, School of Management, School of Accounting, School of Tourism and Event Management, School of Statistics & Information, School of International Studies, School of Continuing Education, School of WTO Research & Education and School of Graduate.  SUIBE offers 32 undergraduate programs,7 of which are taught in English, covering five fields of disciplines, i.e. economics, management science, literature, law and natural science. Master Degrees are conferred in 4 of its first-level disciplines and 41 of its National-level disciplines,7 of which are taught in English. SUIBE boasts a National-Level Demonstration Center for Experimental Teaching, a National-Level Zone for Experimenting Innovative Talent Development Model, and a National -Level Entrepreneurship Base for Undergraduates.  Among all its programs, international economy and trade, English language, finance, logistics management and business administration are designated by MOE as distinctive programs. Among the courses SUIBE offers, financial management and international trade practices are national top-level courses; marketing, securities investment analysis, business logistics are national demonstration courses of bilingual teaching. The teaching team for courses related to business administration is rated as National-level teaching team. There are over 1000 faculty and staff members working at SUIBE and above 400 of them are professors and associate professors. More than 10,000 students are studying in the undergraduate and graduate programs and some 2000 international students in various programs.

Putting students first, SUIBE gives top priority to the development of students and attaches equal importance to their knowledge acquisition, skills building, and qualities upbringing. It is guided by such education philosophy that SUIBE is committed to improving students’ cross-cultural communication abilities and practical skills in their professional fields, strengthening their employability and entrepreneurship, and raising their awareness in professional ethics and social responsibility. SUIBE’s unique model of education aims at nurturing future professionals specialized in international economy and trade and with a readiness to apply their knowledge into practice.  Since its establishment, SUIBE has turned out a great number of professionals who are now actively engaged in the international trade and economic activities, giving full play to their talent both on the domestic front and in the international arena.  Some are leading figures in China’s foreign trade companies; some are the backbones of multinationals and foreign enterprises. Jobs created by SUIBE alumni who started up their own businesses have outnumbered SUIBE’s graduates put together in the years since its establishment. These years SUIBE students have won championships in a number of national and international professional contests.  

Dedicated to serving social and economic needs through scientific research, SUIBE faculty members have undertaken hundreds of research projects funded at the national and ministerial level. SUIBE made positive contributions to China’s resumption of its contracting party status to the GATT and China’s accession to the WTO by establishing the GATT Shanghai Research Center, the WTO Shanghai Research Center, the WTO Trade Policy Review Center, and the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism Research Center. SUIBE is among the first institutions across the world selected for hosting a WTO Chair. With a view to adding to Shanghai’s and China’s strengths in international trade and economy, SUIBE is actively engaged in high-level researches in fields related to international trade on the platforms provided by such research institutes as the Shanghai Research Center for Strategies on International Trade and the Shanghai Research Institute for Development Strategies, which is designated as a Key Research Base for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences conducted by Institutions of Higher Learning in Shanghai and Shanghai Innovation Research Base for Social Sciences. Spearheading high-level studies in international trade, some SUIBE professors are recognized as chief experts at the Shanghai Innovation Research Base for Social Sciences and the Studio of the Shanghai Research Institute for Development Strategies.

SUIBE has been an active player in international exchanges and cooperation in education and established extensive partnerships with its overseas counterparts from more than 80 countries. SUIBE offers 12 joint programs in cooperation with institutions of higher education in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany. Two Confucius Institutes have been established in Croatia and Slovenia respectively. SUIBE is one of the host universities for international students supported by the Chinese Government Scholarship and Shanghai Municipal Government Scholarship.

Taking talent development, scientific studies, social services, and cultural continuity and innovation as its missions, SUIBE is making every effort to build itself into an internationalized cutting-edge university with a diversity of disciplines while building on its traditional strengths in international business and economics so as to make contributions to the development of Shanghai, China and the world at large.