On March 16, Zeng Jun, Director of the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Shanghai University, led a delegation to visit Shanghai Academy, where they were hosted by Professor Li Youmei, First Vice President and Zhao Kebin,  Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy.

In his briefing, Zeng Jun explained that Shanghai  University’s Department of Humanities & Social Sciences is the management department, responsible for the planning, organization, coordination, and management of the humanities & social science research of the entire university. Shanghai Academy, as a high-end think tank co-established by CASS and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, has accumulated rich experience in humanities & social science research. Through this first visit, the Department hopes to learn about the innovative methods of Shanghai  Academy, so as to fully implement and optimize research work. On the basis of sound previous cooperation, the Department hopes to develop in-depth cooperation with Shanghai Academy in the joint holding of meetings and other fields, and to promote the humanities and social science disciplines of both Shanghai Academy and Shanghai University to accelerate their development and elevate overall quality.

Li Youmei said, on the basis of some achievements since its establishment, Shanghai Academy will further improve awareness of focusing on the central task and serving the overall interests, upgrade its ability to find proper topics and improve targeting of its efforts, and further improve its operation and management systems. At the same time, it is imperative to further expand the research team, improve the level of scientific research, and support the humanities & social science construction of Shanghai  University in a wider area and on a deeper level, and fully harness the enthusiasm of the scientific research team to achieve meaningful results. By benchmarking world-class discipline, Shanghai University’s Department of Humanities & Social Sciences will incorporate its discipline construction in faculty construction as well as scientific research, copying and learning from the successful experience of domestic first-class universities in humanities & social science construction, to build Shanghai University into a world-class, high-level research institution.

Zhao Kebin said that, as a high-end think tank co-established by CASS and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, Shanghai  Academy is a good platform to bring the intelligence advantages of CASS and the policy advantages of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government into full play. Under this high-end think-tank platform, we should consider how to serve Shanghai’s social and economic development, how to better support the humanities & social science construction of Shanghai University, and how to fully mobilize the initiative of individuals and the collective wisdom of the research team. As permitted by policies, we must eliminate institutional barriers, innovate institutional mechanisms, introduce incentives, improve and refine performance management, and use performance evaluation and management methods to drive the enthusiasm of expert research teams, to help both the think tank and the university cultivate talents for the benefit of society and to contribute their share to Shanghai’s economic and social growth in a real sense.

(By Xiang Jinmei)