School of Political Science and Public Administration in Soochow University is a comprehensive secondary department, set up through the mergence in 1995 of Department of Political Science and Department of Marxism–Leninism. The renowned school nowadays dates back to 1920s when Dongwu University established its discipline of political science named Dongwu Political Science, and then some relevant departments in Suzhou Institute of Sericulture, Suzhou Institute of Silk Technology and Suzhou Medical School were also merged in later on.

School of Political Science and Public Administration in Soochow University has stood out from other comparable secondary departments in different "211 project" universities for its solid teaching quality. There are 26 professors and 40 associate professors among the 87 full-time instructors, and instructors with a Ph.D. diploma account for more than 70% of middle-aged faculty. In Soochow University, the School almost tops the list when considering the numbers of both second-level and third-level professors.

Now the School consists of three departments (Philosophy Dept., Public Administration Dept. and Management Science Dept.) with eight undergraduate majors (Philosophy, Ideological and Political Education, Management Science, Human Resource Management, Administration Management, Public Affairs Management, Urban Management, and Logistics Management) and a joint dual-degree program with University of Arkansas (International Supply Chain Management) at the undergraduate level. The School is the only one in Soochow University’s humanities and social science fields which holds a province-level collaborative innovation center called New Urbanization and Social Governance. It has two province-level research bases (Research Center of Great Mekong Sub-region, Research Base of Government Administration and Social Governance in South Jiangsu) and 10 university-level research institute (Research Center of Local Government and Social Administration, Dongwu Institute of Philosophy, etc.). It offers four Level I academic master’s programs (Philosophy, Political Science, Science of Public Administration, Management Science and Engineering), 16 Level II academic master’s programs, and one professional program of Master of Public Administration (MPA). It also offers Ph. D. degree in Philosophy and in Political Science (both are first-level disciplines) with stations for post-doctoral studies, covering 14 Ph. D. degrees in Level II disciplines. The discipline of Political Science is the "Preponderant Discipline" among Jiangsu's colleges and universities. The discipline of Philosophy is the "Key Discipline" and Administration Management is "Characteristic Specialty", both certified by Jiangsu Province. There are about 1400 full-time undergraduates and more than 1000 graduate students here, and the trend of becoming a research-oriented school has almost been formed.

Preponderant subjects in the School of Political Science and Public Administration are distributed in two main areas. The first is centered on philosophy, including research on Marxist philosophy (principle of philosophy, development philosophy, management philosophy, politics philosophy, foreign Marxist philosophy), Chinese Philosophy (Confucianism, Daosim, religious studies), Ethics (principles of ethics, management ethics, bioethics, development ethics), and Foreign Philosophy (Russian philosophy, philosophy of science, Japanese philosophy). All of these studies have nationwide prestige and reputations. In recent years, instructors in the above subjects have held more than ten National Social Science Fund Projects. Prof. Li Lanfen held key National Social Science Fund Project for three times. She has published more than 500 papers on Social Sciences in China and Philosophical Researches, and more than 180 of which are sources of CSSCI. She also published more than 30 academic monographs, including Marxist Philosophy in Contemporary Vision, Philosophy in Late Qing Dynasty, History of Buddhist Thoughts in China, Research on Ethical Governance in China. Prof. Pan Guiming spent ten years sparing no effort to compiling History of Buddhist Thoughts in China, which won the First Prize of Jiangsu Excellent Scientific Research Achievements and brought significant influence to the academia. The other area is related to political Science and science of public administration. Studies in this area have achieved advantages and characteristics, in terms of government reform and development, skeleton regime construction and regional ecological governance, government theory and public policy, and local government, especially innovations in south Jiangsu. A series of high-quality publications have been published (Dongwu Political Science, Politics and Public Governance Studies Repertoire, Dongwu Public Administration Research Series, etc.), and more than 200 academic papers have been collected by authoritative or core journals such as Social Sciences in China, Political Studies and World of Management.

The school has made outstanding achievements in talents cultivation and social services. It has been providing millions of undergraduate and graduate students for the country and the society, many of whom have become senior leaders in the government, prestigious professors in universities, and entrepreneurs as well. The school has undertaken a large number of commissioned research tasks for the government and public institutions. The study results serve as important references for decision makers in relevant department and units, and are highly valued by leaders at all levels in both central and provincial governments. Students guided by teachers from the school have won the national grand prizes and first prizes in the ‘Challenge Cup’ National College Students Extracurricular Scientific and Technological Competition. The School has also attached great importance to international cooperation and communication, carrying out joint cultivation programs with a number of foreign colleges and universities. When it comes to short-term training overseas, various programs with different durations are provided for qualified students to choose from.

Adress: No.199, Renai Road, Suzhou Industry Park,Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. 215123

Contact: Yin Tingting Tel:  65880157  

E-Mail:yintingting@suda.edu.cn

Website: http://pac.suda.edu.cn