Shanghai University of Finance and Economics attains global accreditation

The Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) has received NASPAA accreditation, the global standard for graduate-level and master's degree programs in public policy, affairs and administration, making it the third Chinese university to achieve this following Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China.

SUFE is one of the six universities that received the certification in July. More than 40 universities worldwide participated in the peer review and accreditation process. The other five are universities in South Korea, the United States and Colombia.

"The Master of public administration (MPA) aims to cultivate talents in public administration for government departments and non-government organizations," said Yu Wei, professor at the school of public economics and management and director of MPA center at SUFE.

"The accreditation process is a professional way of examining teaching and management quality of the13-year-long MPA education at our school in accordance with global standards. It will also be a driving force in turning Shanghai into a global city of excellence," he said.

The NASPAA accreditation works by getting programs to evaluate themselves against their mission and goals. The committee also investigates if a university's MPA program meets the criteria which includes the quality of teaching resources, the management of the program as well as faculty and student performance.

SUFE's application for the accreditation started in 2012. The university conducted a holistic self-evaluation, relying on an evaluation of teaching quality and feedback on students' abilities regarding management, policy analysis, problem-solving, and international outlook.

"The process of international accreditation positively boosts our international exchanges with foreign countries in the field," said Li Huiping, director of international affairs department at MPA Center.

In a bid to bolster its MPA education offerings, SUFE has been holding several international workshops in Japan, the United States and Singapore since 2012. Teachers and students from other institutes such as the University of Southern Utah in the US the and American University in Cairo, Egypt have also visited SUFE for academic exchanges.

"We look forward to promoting the quality and internationalization of China's public management discipline with our peers," said Fu Wenlin, vice principal of the school of public economics and management at SUFE.