Strengthening the Modernization of New Area Governance, Cultivating Grassroots Backbone Forces: The First Session of the Special Training Program for Improving Comprehensive Competence in Administrative (Community) Work of Nanhui New Town Successfully Concludes | EE News
SUFE-DAFI
On the morning of September 3, 2025, the closing ceremony (the “Ceremony”) of the First Session of the Special Training Program for Improving Comprehensive Competence in Administrative (Community) Work of Nanhui New Town (the “Training Program”) was successfully held at Dishui Lake Advanced Finance Institute, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (“SUFE-DAFI” or the “Institute”). After two months of systematic training from July to August, 2025, 30 grassroots backbones from government agencies, enterprises, public institutions, and community departments successfully completed the Training Program.
Attendees of the Ceremony included Professor YAO Yang, Dean of SUFE-DAFI, SUN Xiaohe, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Mayor of Nanhui New Town, WU Zhen, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nanhui New Town, JIN Zhenyu, Deputy Mayor of Nanhui New Town, as well as heads of relevant departments of the town and SUFE-DAFI. The Ceremony was hosted by GUI Ge, Course Manager of the Executive Education (EE) Center of SUFE-DAFI.
In his closing speech, Dean YAO Yang pointed out that the development of SUFE-DAFI should resonate in harmony with the development of Lingang. The Institute would root itself in the local community to conduct research that is “academically ambitious and practically grounded”, and empower the modernization of grassroots governance with academic efforts. He emphasized that against the backdrop of the rapid development of hard technologies in Lingang, the support of soft sciences was crucial. Economic research was not an abstract academic exercise, but a response to real-world challenges, providing feasible ideas and solutions for industrial upgrading and governance optimization. As an important carrier of national strategies and a testbed for governance innovation, Lingang would be leveraged by SUFE-DAFI to encourage faculty and young scholars to engage in frontline development work, transform research achievements into governance wisdom and policy references, and strive to build a globally influential financial business school. While serving Lingang, the Institute would also contribute to national development and global governance.
On behalf of the Party Committee of Nanhui New Town, Mayor SUN Xiaohe extended congratulations to the participants. He noted that the rapid development of Nanhui New Town was currently accompanied by “growing pains” in grassroots governance. The Training Program, which was closely aligned with the strategy of “economy playing a pivotal role and governance serving people's livelihoods”, focused on three core themes - “empowering governance with economic thinking, optimizing the environment through professional services, and deepening mass work via innovative practices”, and served as a key initiative to address real-world challenges and cultivate backbone forces. He encouraged the participants to continue demonstrating the spirit of “not shying away from difficulties and taking responsibility when it is right” after graduation, and to translate what they have learned into practical results in serving people's livelihoods and promoting development.
On the Ceremony, Dean YAO Yang and Mayor SUN Xiaohe presented dual-certificate completion certificates jointly issued by SUFE and Nanhui New Town to all participants.
Deputy Secretary WU Zhen and Deputy Mayor JIN Zhenyu presented the Outstanding Student Award and Class Service Award respectively.
In his speech, FENG Chuang, representative of the participants and class monitor, admitted that the two-month Training Program had not only improved his professional capabilities but also strengthened team cohesion. He stated that in the future, he would “enhance wisdom through learning and promote action through learning”, convert the learning outcomes into practical work results, and work with all participants to contribute wisdom to the development of Nanhui New Town. Representatives from each group of participants also shared their experiences, practical insights, and future plans.
With “in-depth integration of grassroots governance and economic development” as its core theme, the Training Program adopted a “theory + practice” dual-track model and offered more than 20 professional courses. The theoretical teaching focused on the core needs of grassroots work, covering topics such as economic thinking, enterprise services, leadership improvement, community communication, and official document writing. The practical segment emphasized the application of knowledge: participants were organized to visit Dishui Lake Financial Bay and Zhangjiang Science City, participated in the “Special Forces Assault” Elite Training Camp, and conducted “Dishui Lake Micro-research”, all to effectively enhance their practical capabilities in grassroots governance and economic services.
The successful conclusion of the Training Program not only laid a solid talent foundation for Nanhui New Town to address grassroots governance challenges and promote high-quality development, but also marked a solid step forward for SUFE-DAFI in advancing the integration of “government, industry, university, and research”.
In the future, SUFE-DAFI will continue to align closely with the construction needs of Lingang New Area as a “Special Economic Function Zone”, continuously cultivate more compound talents who understand economics, excel in governance, and dare to innovate for Nanhui New Town, and work with all stakeholders to contribute wisdom and strength to the development of Lingang New Area.
About EE
SUFE-DAFI’s Executive Education (EE) leverages the Institute’s premium resources in financial research and education, integrating global educational assets to design customized training programs for enterprises. It also offers public finance and management courses for mid-to-senior executives, nurturing high-caliber financial and economic talents and leaders across sectors to fuel economic development and industrial upgrading. The program strives to bridge advanced international theories with Chinese practice, creating a most valuable lifelong learning platform for emerging finance.
