Introduction to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences is a multidisciplinary foundational platform of Peking University in Shenzhen, providing support for scientific research, teaching, and innovative exploration in liberal arts disciplines. Since its establishment in 2006, the school has launched programs such as Communication, Sociology, Applied Psychology, and Social Work. It has also collaborated with other departments and schools to offer ideological and political courses, general education courses, and training programs. The school plays a pivotal role in talent cultivation, social services, and campus culture development，holding the belief in "PKU Tradition, Shenzhen Vitality, Global Vision, and Humanistic Spirit".

On September 26, 2023, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government and Peking University signed an agreement on comprehensively deepening cooperation. In the field of humanities and social sciences, the agreement included provisions such as "introducing advantageous resources of PKU in humanities and social sciences and optimizing the layout of such resources". To implement the agreement, the university clearly put forward initiatives in the Key Work Points of Peking University for 2024—strengthening the development of humanities and social sciences programs at the Shenzhen Graduate School and building a new humanistic center of PKU in southern China.

To implement the agreement and the key work points, in January 2024, the Shenzhen Graduate School decided to set up a "Special Working Group for the Development of Humanities and Social Sciences" to restart the construction of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Through extensive suggestions from all sectors of society, the school formulated a "four-in-one" development strategy led by disciplinary construction, which coordinates the advancement of high-quality ideological and political education, distinctive general education, social services, and training programs.

In terms of disciplinary construction, integrating domestic and international academic hotspots and trends, the disciplinary foundation of Peking University, as well as the development needs of Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area, the school is striving to launch full-time professional master's programs.

For the development of ideological and political courses, the school is constructing a new teaching system underpinned by high-quality compulsory courses, supplemented by distinctive elective courses, and integrated with ideological and political education system. It has made an effort to build a stable and high-level full-time faculty specializing in this field, so as to enhance the teaching quality of such courses.

In the area of general education, in accordance with the national educational policy of promoting students' all-round development in “morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor education”, the school is developing a general education system that meets PKU standards with the characteristics of the Shenzhen Graduate School. Based on the needs of existing programs at the graduate school, a general curriculum system covering languages, humanistic literacy, science and technology ethics, physical, and aesthetic education has been established, focusing on improving students' comprehensive quality in disciplinary perspective, humanistic heritage and spiritual connotation.

Regarding training programs, the school actively leverages the advantageous faculty resources of PKU, collaborates with social resources to carry out training activities, promoting faculty development and building a "PKU - Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" platform for humanistic exchanges.

Meanwhile, the school is also accelerating the construction of an AI-empowered laboratory for humanities and social sciences. Driven by scientific intelligence and social computing, it will serve as an cross disciplinary experiment platform integrating liberal arts, science and engineering, supporting the development of multiple disciplines such as economics, management, law, psychology, and ethics.

Appendix:

Humanities and Social Sciences Development Task Force

Tong De: Assistant to the Dean, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, and Head of the Humanities and Social Sciences Development Task Force

Yu Changjiang: Member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Development Task Force and Executive Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Zhou Mingju: Member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Development Task Force and Deputy Director of the Office of Academic Affairs, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School