The School of Philosophy and Social Development (SOPASD) of Shandong University was founded in 1999. It currently has two first-level disciplines, philosophy and sociology. In the 2018 QS World University Rankings, the School is in the range of 100-150; In mainland China, it ties with other universities for the fourth place and has been ranking highly for four consecutive years. Presently the school has 84 full-time faculty members, 530 undergraduates, 260 postgraduates, and 160 Ph.D. students. It has five departments and two research institutes. The five departments are the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Sociology, the Department of Religious Studies, the Department of Anthropology, and the Department of Social Work. The two centers include the Center for Zhouyi and Ancient Chinese Philosophy and the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious.
In recent years, the School has devoted itself to building high-quality teaching staff. There are 69 full-time teachers, including 8 of foreigners or from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, 34 professors and 23 associate professors. Among them, 65 teachers have Ph.D. and 23 have overseas Doctoral degrees. Based on the strong teaching staff, the School is committed to creating a great academic environment and research environment for students. Every year, it attracts many students to apply for further education. Over past 20 years, the School has fostered more than 20,000 talents in philosophy and sociology, who are active in various fields and have made outstanding contributions to promoting the development of Chinese society in many aspects such as academic research, education and teaching, and innovation.
