In May of 2019, School of Foreign Languages merged with School of Literatures and Mass Media (the Discipline of Journalism and Communication not included), and formed School of Languages and Cultures (hereafter shortened as SLC), which was part of the initiative launched by Shanghai University of Political Science and Law (shortened as SHUPL) to redistribute disciplinary resources of language majors, optimize subject structures, and bring the educational level to new heights. Language education began at the birth of SHUPL in 1984, when both Teaching and Research Sections of Foreign Languages as well as Chinese Language were then initiated as two independent departments. Evolved from their predecessors, the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Mass Communication and Chinese Language took shape one after another in 2006. Currently, SLC owns 5 Teaching and Research organs, namely, English, Russian, Chinese, Chinese International Education, College English Teaching& Research Sections; 8 language laboratories, 5 research centers, respectively, College English Teaching&Testing Research Center, Legal English Research Center, English and American Literatures Research Center, Traditional Culture Innovation Research Center, and Research Center of Creative Writing and Cultural Innovation Industry.

SLC boasts a young and enterprising faculty of 77 teachers, among whom are 68 full-time teachers, including 6 full professors, 20 associate professors, 30 teachers holding Ph.D. degrees, around 29 having oversea educational background or studying experience, as well as 5 language teachers from English-speaking countries. Laying equal emphasis on teaching and research, we have so far made great strides in both areas through concerted efforts of both leaders and teachers in SLC. Teachers in SLC have published a great number of monographs, translations, and treatises. Recent years have witnessed lots of remarkable achievements in both teaching and research: In the past 3 years, 3 courses opened in SLC such as “Advanced English” have been acknowledged as Municipal Key Courses, “A Synopsis of Russian-speaking Countries along the Silk-road” and other 5 courses at school level, 5 teachers in our school won titles of “Model Teacher Awards”(a teaching award in SHUPL), and 3 teachers won prizes of National Foreign Language Teaching Contest sponsored by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Also, SLC strives to create the academic atmosphere by initiating programs like “Languages and Cultures Forum”. So far, teachers of SLC have possessed 10-odd municipal or ministerial-level research projects, published 40 articles in periodicals of Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI), 10 monographs as well as translated books, 2 series of textbooks.

SLC now offers 4 undergraduate programs for about 800 students: English, Russian, Chinese (Cultural Creative Industry), and Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL). Abiding by the SLC’s motto— “Virtuous, Diligent and Conversant with Culture of the East and West”, and pooling resources from political science & law disciplines in SHUPL, as well as China Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation, we aim to cultivate competent, innovative and practically-oriented graduates, who are empowered with moral education, sound knowledge structure, and cross-cultural communication ability, so as to serve social and economic development and national development strategy. Our school encourages the staff to uphold professional ethics and devotion, and requires students to concentrate on their studies. In doing so, we have made great achievements in improving students’ competency, quality and competitiveness. Our students scored 25 points higher than the national average in relevant annual professional level tests. They take an active part in CATTI, Shanghai Interpretation Test and Teaching Qualification Test. On top of that, our students perform well in diversified competitions of foreign languages and contests of innovation and entrepreneurship, earning an excellent reputation for our school. They also put what they have learned into practice, for example, providing voluntary language services for international conferences including Shanghai Import Expo and SCO International Judicial Cooperation Forum. The employment rate of our graduates remains as high as over 98%, and the rate for those passing the entrance examinations for postgraduates as high as 20%.

Positioning herself invariably as an international teaching and research unit, SLC has successfully forged cooperative relationships with many world-renowned universities. As part of our experimental exchange programs, SLC have selected and dispatched qualified students to high-level universities abroad every year on various degree or non-degree programs such as “3+1” (first 3 years in SHUP, last year in oversea universities). SFL cooperates with prestigious higher institutions including The University of Lobachevsky State University, by offering our students the “2+1+1” Joint Program, which can assist them paving the road for future master’s program in Russian universities, on condition that they are diligent enough to obtain the certificate to Band-2 of ТРИК during their oversea studies. In recent years, a number of graduated students from SFL have been enrolled by many top oversea universities, such as The University of Pittsburgh, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Sydney and The University of Columbia and The University of St. Petersburg .

With a pioneering spirit and strong determination, SLC aims at gradually building up a contingent of professional personnel, rationalizing the arrangement of subjects as well as majors, and raising the academic and teaching level of the teachers. SLC now joins hands with School of Documentaries in fostering postgraduates at master’s level.

SLC welcomes talents opting for any one of the majors offered in our program, namely, English, Russian, Chinese Language & Literature（Creative and Cultural Industries）. May all our students realize their life ambitions!