About Us

Discipline Characteristics. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences is the most extensive in USTB in terms of the disciplines it covers, including law, public administration, sociology and literature etc.. SHSS has a relatively complete educational system that includes undergraduate programs in administration, law and social work, academic MA programs in public management, law and sociology, professional MA programs in MPA, JM and MSW, and doctoral programs in the subdiscipline of educational technology and educational management.SHSS is among the first pilot institutions to grant master’s degree in MPA.

History. Founded in April 1995, SHSS integrated the former Department of Social Sciences, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Institute of Higher Education and the Office of Ideology Education and Research. It is proudly among the three schools focusing on humanity and social sciences education and research in USTB.

International Exchange. Both international and domestic exchange programs are available for students in SHSS. With the Swansea University, we have the 3+1+1 cooperative educational program and in cooperation with the University of Dundee, we have the 3+1 exchange program and 3+1+1 Fast Track Program. During the summer session, at least one course will be taught by an invited professor from a famous university outside China. Besides, in order to broaden students' horizons and supplement their professional knowledge, well-known experts from abroad are often invited to give talks and lectures.

Development Plan. In accordance with the requirements of the country, our society and the characteristics of USTB, SHSS aims to optimize the disciplines in an all-round way and facilitate the social public education through improving the education of humanities and social sciences under the background of engineering educational reform in the spirit of inclusiveness and harmony. It focuses on both teaching and research, both fundamental knowledge and professional knowledge, both the teaching of public administration, law and social work for its own majors and the teaching of general education courses for students from other majors in USTB. In 2017, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences began to allow its freshmen to study across disciplines before anchoring their major. They are allowed to transfer their major based on their growing interest. To enable students to acquire knowledge in a profound and comprehensive manner, the School has adopted a modular four-fold course system: the school-wide general courses, general courses of the disciplines, advanced professional courses and optional courses. Based on general education and professional training, the School stays committed to producing professionals and also generalists.

History

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences was founded in April 1995, intergrating the former Department of Social Sciences, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Institute of Higher Education and the Office of Ideology Education and Research.

In July 1953, 17 faculty successively gathered at the new campus of then Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Engineering to set up a politics teaching and research team under the supervision of the Section of Publicity and Education of the institute, then under the Publicity Department when the Party Committee of the institute was established. At the time, DU Weixin served as the dean of the Office of Teaching and Research, which is in charge of the teams respectively responsible for teaching CPC history, Marxism-Leninism political economy, and later philosophy.

In 1954, the party branch of the politics teaching and research team was established.

In 1955, the party branches of politics team, Russian team, and sports team were established.

In 1956, the Politics Teaching and Research Team's Reference Room was established, then under the management of YV Shenyang. The Party Committee of the institute employed Soviet experts from the Central Party School to guide the work of the teaching and research team.

In the second half of 1958, the Party Committee restored the Marxism-Leninism teaching and research group. ZHU Yaozhong was the director and LI Tao the party secretary.

In September 1959, three courses on political theory were resumed: CPC history, philosophy, and political economy. However, a month later, Marxist theory was banned again from being instructed in class, caused by the anti-rightist movement and the educational revolution.

In the summer of 1959 and the early 1960, the School resumed the instruction of Marxist theory and added a natural dialectics teaching team by bringing in a batch of students that had been admitted to the Party and replenishing the Marxism-Leninism team. The systematic teaching of Marxist theory was constantly disturbed due to the influence of leftist ideas at the time.

At the end of 1961, eight teachers from the Administration and Management Institute, Ministry of Metallurgy of China, were reassigned to the Marxism-Leninism teaching and research group.

During the decade of the Cultural Revolution, the teaching of Marxist theory was severely damaged, teaching, with the team dissolved and the teachers severely impacted.

In 1972, following the resumption of universities of science and technology, the School reinstated the Marxism-Leninism team. In fact, the majority of the teachers had been scattered across various schools of the university, forming teaching groups and working under the leadership of the party branch of each school. Under the historical conditions of that time, it was impossible to bring the Marxist theory course on track.

After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the Marxist theoretical education in Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Engineering was fully restored and developed. According to the development plan of the university—to build the university as a multi-disciplinary one that combined engineering, science, management, and literature, the party committee of the institute announced the establishment of the Department of Social Sciences on January 29, 1984. It was formed by the Office of Marxism-Leninism Teaching and Research, the Chinese Teaching Team (under the Education Office) and the Office of Ideology Education Teaching and Research, under the supervision of FAN Yuanxing, deputy secretary of the institute’s party committee. On May 16, approved by the Ministry of Metallurgy of China, GUO Wuben became the Dean of the Department of Social Sciences, serving two terms until the end of 1989. Deputy deans include DAI Guikang, LI Song, LUO Jiezhi and LV Xiulan.

In January 1990, WANG Qitian took over as the third Dean of the Department of Social Sciences, with DAI Guikang, XU Fang and WANG Guixi as the deputy deans; ZHANG Youtao as the party secretary of the department and LV Jingsheng the deputy secretary. The term of the office lasted for four years.

On March 24, 1994, the University Party Committee announced the fourth leadership team of the Department, with XU Fang as the Dean, ZHANG Shangquan, ZHOU Xiangbin and WANG Guixi as the deputy deans, LV Jingsheng as the Party Secretary, and WANG Mei and LIU Xiangjun as the deputy secretaries. This term of the office lasted until the establishment of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in April 1995.

Faculty

School of Humanities and Social Sciences owns a great number of teachers, with 61 full-time teachers of law, management, sociology, political science, literature and art studies, among them 12 professors, 29 associate professors and 20 assistant professors. More than 54% of them have a doctoral degree, the rest a master’s degree.

The faculty of the School boasts a reasonable structure in terms of age, educational background, professional and technical posts, and knowledge capability, which is in line with the orientation of the School and the needs of major construction and discipline development. Details are as follows:

Professors: 12 professors, 29 associate professors (most are senior lecturers), and 20 assistant professors.

Education structure: 33 hold doctoral degrees, which is about 54% of the total.

Age: 70% of teachers are in their golden age for research and teaching.

Graduated univeristies: The School recruits teachers broadly, mainly from Peking University, Renmin University of China, Jilin University etc..

Overseas experience: Nearly half of the faculty members have overseas experience in academic visiting, working, and studying.

Teacher-student ratio: Admitting 180 undergraduates per year. The student-teacher ratio of the School is 11.8, which is basically in line with the student-teacher ratio stipulated by the Ministry of Education for high-level teaching.