Today, professional master’s degree education stands at the intersection of industrial upgrading and strategic transformation. As a key initiative of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) in the Lingang New Area, Dishui Lake Advanced Finance Institute, SUFE (SUFE-DAFI) has adhered firmly to the mission of “rooting in Lingang, serving the whole country, and embracing the globe” since its establishment. It proactively aligns its efforts with the needs of regional development and national financial strategies.
This article, authored by Professor CHEN Xuanjuan, Executive Dean of SUFE-DAFI, was published in Jiefang Daily. It systematically outlined how SUFE-DAFI had built an industry-education integration mechanism for talent cultivation around four core master’s program tracks - ESG Finance, Cross-Border Finance, AI Finance, and International Financial Engineering, and developed a curriculum that balanced professional depth with contemporary relevance. Against the backdrop of China’s strategy of building a “financial powerhouse”, SUFE-DAFI will continue to explore a Chinese model for emerging financial education, support the development of Shanghai as an international financial center, and nurture a new generation of financial talents with global vision and a strong sense of national identity.
CHEN Xuanjuan
Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, and Executive Dean of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Dishui Lake Advanced Finance Institute (SUFE-DAFI)
First published in: Jiefang Daily, Page 4 Feature Section, September 8, 2025
SUFE-DAFI
Professional master’s degree education, a key pathway for cultivating high-level applied talents, must more closely align with national strategies and regional development needs. Leveraging the institutional advantages and industrial agglomeration of the Lingang New Area, SUFE-DAFI has established a discipline-building philosophy centered on “industry orientation, cutting-edge academics, and international vision”. It also leverages a collaborative mechanism, where “industries raise questions, the institute provides solutions, governments offer support, and society engages”, to effectively serve the national strategy of building a financial powerhouse and the broader goals of regional development.
From its inception, SUFE-DAFI has prioritized supporting national strategies and Lingang’s industrial development, developing four specialized master’s tracks: ESG Finance: Aligned with China’s “dual carbon” (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality) goals, it cultivates interdisciplinary talents who understand finance and possess a strong sense of social responsibility. Cross-border Finance: Leveraging Lingang’s strengths in cross-border and offshore finance, it trains elites proficient in international rules, cross-border capital flow management, and risk control. AI Finance: Adapting to the digital transformation of finance, it nurtures innovative talents with both theoretical expertise and the ability to apply technological tools. International Financial Engineering: In collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley, it integrates world-class courses to develop talents with quantitative research capabilities and international vision.
Building on its curriculum, SUFE-DAFI has established institutionalized mechanisms to address the “how to cultivate” question under the framework of industry-education integration:
1. Curriculum Optimization: It has developed a curriculum that shifts from “knowledge transmission” to “competence building”, integrating professional theory, industrial frontiers, and AI skills into modular courses. Through mobile classrooms, case studies, and thematic lectures, it sparks students’ curiosity and exploratory spirit, ensuring the curriculum remains grounded in cutting-edge finance and closely tied to industrial practice.
2. Strengthened Practical Teaching: It has created a full-time practice professor system, recruiting financial regulators and industry executives with doctoral degrees to teach, thus offering students unique, real-world insights. Students are also guided to apply their professional skills in real scenarios such as green finance and cross-border finance, enabling them to “learn by doing and gain insights through practice”.
3. Talent Placement and Social Service: SUFE-DAFI conducts in-depth research into enterprise job needs and hosts regular talent matchmaking events to align supply with demand. It also transforms research achievements into curriculum cases and channels students’ learning achievements back into corporate practice, forming a closed loop of “research-teaching-application”.
We are confident that through continuous exploration and practice, we will cultivate a large number of new financial talents with academic rigor, practical capabilities, a strong sense of national identity, and global vision, contributing wisdom and strength to the development of Shanghai as an international financial center.
