The School of Government was founded in September 2021 based on the former Department of Public Administration of the School of Management, the former Department of Sociology of the Law School and the former Institute of Urban Governance. It is one of the youngest schools in Shenzhen University. The school is divided into the Department of Public Administration, the Department of Sociology, and the Department of Political Science, with two undergraduate majors: Administration, and Sociology; two first-level master programs: Public Administration, and Political Science; two professional master programs: Master of Public Administration (MPA), and Master of Social Work (MSW); and one doctoral program in the secondary discipline outside the directory: Political Communication.

The school integrates political science, sociology and public administration, embodies the organic integration of basic research and applied research, and has unique disciplinary advantages. Government management and public administration are the focus of the discipline construction in the school, and urban governance, especially the mega-city governance, is a prominent feature of the school’s academic research. The school will make full use of its own discipline and location advantages, learn from the cross-running mode of “Politics, Philosophy and Economics” (PPE) at home and abroad, and explore the high-level government management talent training mode across public administration, political science and sociology (PPS), striving to build the School of Government into an international first-class school of government, which integrates basic theory and applied research, promotes teaching and scientific research, and combines academic and moral education.

Since its inception, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has benefited from ideological emancipation, institutional innovation and opening up to the outside world, and created the “Shenzhen Miracle”, “Shenzhen Speed” and “Shenzhen Phenomenon” that have attracted worldwide attention. Shenzhen is an example of scientific and technological innovation, economic growth and opening-up, and also a pioneer in government management reform and urban governance innovation. Innovation, enterprise, truth-seeking, openness and efficiency are the elements of the “Shenzhen Miracle” and will also be the elements of the growth and expansion of the young School of Government at Shenzhen University. In the era of globalization and networking, the school will review and summarize the practical experience of the modernization of urban governance in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from a global perspective, explore the universal law of the development of world metropolises, and commit itself to building a new high-end think tank for the study of global mega-city governance.

Whether it is to build first-class disciplines to promote the development of Chinese politics, sociology and public management, or to build high-end think tanks to promote the modernization of the Shenzhen Pilot Demonstration Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, everyone in the School of Government should take responsibility in this regard. Let’s assume this glorious responsibility together, unite and work hard to create a better future for the School of Government.

Yu Keping

July 11, 2022