Department of International Politics
China has been deeply involved in international affairs with its opening to the outside world. Consequently, colleges and universities in China can no longer satisfy its need of personnel with an international perspective majoring in international politics as there are only a limited number of colleges and universities with such kind of undergraduate students in China. This is why Tongji, one of China’s leading universities, with the guideline to establish a research-oriented comprehensive open-ended university, set up the four-year full-time undergraduate major of international politics in 2001 and began to enroll students in 2002. The Department began to enroll full-time postgraduate students majoring in international politics and international relations in 2004, and planned to enroll Ph.D. students of the major in the next two or three years.
The respective enrolled undergraduate and postgraduate students of the major have been over 250 and 65 update. The students in the Department as a whole appreciate their learning and college life in Tongji University. There are now 15 faculty members in the Department, with 10 members having received a Ph.D. degree. There are 4 professors, 3 associate professors, 8 lecturers, and 2 guest professors in the Department faculty, among them there are 4 Ph.D. candidate tutors and another 7 postgraduate candidate tutors.
Regarding the undergraduate teaching, the Department focuses its guideline on the training of inter-disciplinary talents with the combination of theoretical understanding of international politics and capabilities in practice, which is in accordance with the general guideline of Tongji University. The research fields in which the Department enjoys advantages include Europe studies and Asian-Pacific studies. The requirements that students should meet in their college life include their expertise in mastering the basic knowledge in this major and attending courses beyond the major. It is noteworthy that special emphasis is put on the improvement of students’ foreign language skills. Besides, students have opportunities to practice as interns in governmental agencies, business enterprises, as well as social organizations.
The Department faculty members have their academic expertise in Europe studies, Asia-Pacific studies, China-U.S. relations studies and Russia studies. The Department has established a cooperative relationship with Tongji University’s other two international studies institutes, Center for Asia-Pacific Studies and Institute for Germany Studies.