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On June 15th, 2020, the Master of Finance (MF) Program at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) was ranked No. 1 in Asia for the third consecutive time. Since its inaugural publication in 2011, the FT ranking has been considered one of the most authoritative benchmarks in the world. It rates business schools and their MF programs on 17 criteria in two key domains. The career progression domain, involving 7 metrics and weighing in at 58% of the total, is derived from a survey among alumni after three years of graduation. The other domain focuses on the diversity of business schools and their MF programs, which covers 10 metrics collected from survey questionnaires, weighing in at 42% of the total. SAIF distinguishes itself in the following rankings this year: "Faculty with Doctorates" (No.1 in the world), “Salary Today” (No.4 globally), "Salary Percentage Increase" (No.5 worldwide and No.1 in Asia) and "International course experience” (No.25 globally and No.1 in Asia). Overall, SAIF MF is ranked No. 13 among all 55 participating business schools and No. 1 in Asia for the third time. Among Asian schools in the ranking, SAIF is followed by Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (No.15) and Guanghua School of Management of Peking University (No.17).

On March 30th, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) held the Faculty and Staff Meeting of 2020 Spring Semester. Prof. Guangshao Tu, Adjunct Professor of SJTU and Executive Director of SAIF, and Prof. Jiang Wang, Executive Director of SAIF and Chairman of SAIF Faculty Council, delivered speeches respectively. Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean of SAIF, and Prof. Qigui Zhu, Secretary of the CPC SAIF Committee, served as keynote speakers. Nearly 200 SAIF professors and staff attended the event on site or remotely.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, SAIF Alumni Association published a "Support Initiative" on January 27th, calling on all alumni to act immediately and do their best to make contributions to the people in Hubei and Wuhan, support the tough battle against the epidemic and overcome difficulties together with love and practice. The Initiative received a warm response from all SAIF alumni. Alumni clubs, classes and enterprises have been positively involved in the move. Statistics shows that as of now, 138 alumni or their companies and 9 classes have donated a total of RMB681 million in cash and materials worth hundreds of millions of RMB, including nearly 340,000 protective suits, 2.97 million masks, 1.36 million pairs of gloves, 1,500 pairs of goggles, 110 tons of medical alcohol, 3,350 tons of sodium hypochlorite disinfectant, 10,000 boxes of testing reagents, 2 anti-epidemic special sanitation vehicles, 1 high-temperature disinfection and anti-epidemic vehicle, 40 heat guns, 338 air purifiers , 30 medical ventilators, 200 negative pressure suction devices, 200 monitors and other daily supplies worth approximately RMB356 million.

On March 1st 2020, SAIF launched a number of cloud-based online courses. The first "Curriculum in March" covered 32 courses, of which 14 courses went alive for MBA and MF students in the first week, involving 17 classes and around 850 students. In addition to the new hardware system, the changes in the form of teaching also posed challenges to the faculty. In this regard, Prof. Hong Yan, Deputy Dean of SAIF, explained, "Before the start of the curriculum, we have conducted several rounds of communication with all the involved professors, who have adjusted the forms of teaching and added the parts of online interaction and Q&As. The trial lectures were also executed in advance. The only purpose is to prevent the potential deterioration of teaching quality due to changes in the teaching forms." More than 70% of the 32 courses launched in March used live streaming technology. The faculty also provided online tutoring to students through after-class interactive communication and Q&A. Though the COVID-19 temporarily prevents SAIF students from returning to campus, it couldn’t stop their dedication to study, not to mention the commitment and efforts made by SAIF faculty and staff. With the joint efforts, the class bells rang in the cloud will surely be the most beautiful sound in this special spring.

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania released the "Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2019 " on January 30th, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The ranking of "Top 100 Think Tanks to Watch" lists four Chinese think tanks, including Shanghai Institute of Advanced Finance (SAIF), which also enters the list of "Top 100 Best Managed Think Tanks in 2019". It marks the 14th edition of the Report, which is one of the most authoritative reports of think tank research and development in the world. Through an objective and fair research system, it aims to engage in ongoing research and comprehensive ranking of global think tanks and review their roles in governments and society around the world, so as to strengthen the capacity building and improve the performance of worldwide think tanks. In 2019, of all the 8,248 think tanks catalogued in the TTCSP’s Global Think Tank Database, Europe features the most think tanks, with a total of 2,219 (26.9%). The number of Asian think tanks is the same as last year. China ranks as the third largest country in the world in terms of the quantity of think tanks (507). SAIF ranks No. 2 in China and No. 38 in the world in "Top 100 Think Tanks to Watch in 2019". In the list of " Top 100 Best Managed Think Tanks in 2019", SAIF ranks 40th in the world, only after the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) (31st in the world) among all Chinese peers. These highlights further prove that SAIF's research strength and role of a think tank have attracted worldwide attention.

On January 22nd, 2020, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) held 2020 Annual Board Meeting at SAIF Xuhui Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Qing Wu, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Vice Mayor of Shanghai and Chairman of SAIF, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech. Mingbo Chen, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal Government and Deputy Chairman of SAIF; Jing Lu, Director of Shanghai Education Commission and Director of SAIF; Dong Xie, Director of Shanghai Financial Affairs Bureau and Director of SAIF; Sixian Jiang, Secretary of CPC Committee at SJTU and Deputy Chairman of SAIF; Zhongqin Lin, President of SJTU and Director of SAIF; Guangshao Tu, Adjunct Professor of SJTU and Executive Director of SAIF; Zhen Huang, Vice President of SJTU and Director of SAIF; and Jiang Wang, Chairman of SAIF Faculty Council and Executive Director of SAIF, attended the meeting. Qi Liang, Director of Human Resources Department of SJTU, Yaguang Wang, Dean of the Graduate School, Chun Chang, Executive Dean of SAIF, Qigui Zhu, Secretary of CPC SAIF Committee, and other SJTU department heads and senior professors were also present. At the meeting, Prof. Jiang Wang presented “2019 Annual Work Report” on behalf of SAIF Board. Chairman Qing Wu and other directors highly affirmed the progress and achievements made by SAIF over the past decade, in particular in 2019, and brainstormed ideas and suggestions for SAIF’s future development. They hoped that SAIF will review the feedback of recent international assessment, continue to adhere to the track of internationalization, specialization and market orientation, and build up a world-class financial school, in order to serve as an important academic support, talent highland and brand of Shanghai as an international financial hub, and make its contributions to the upgrading of Shanghai's urban energy level and core competency.

From January 10th to 11th, 2020, an International Evaluation Committee composed of six world-class experts and scholars from top-notch business schools visited Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and conducted the second comprehensive evaluation on the development of SAIF over the past decade in terms of faculty development, talent training, research platform, school management, alumni relations and other dimensions. The International Evaluation Committee was chaired by Franklin Allen, Professor of Finance and Economics at the Imperial College London, former Deputy Dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and former Chairman of the American Finance Association. The other five experts included Kathleen Hagerty, Associate Provost at Northwestern University; Rich Lyons, former Dean and Professor of Finance of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; Maureen O'Hara, Robert W. Purcell Chair Professor of Finance at Johnson School of Management of Cornell University and former Chairman of the American Finance Association; Stephen Schaefer; Professor of Finance and former Associate Dean of London Business School and former Academic Director of AQR Institute of Asset Management; and Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden, former President and Professor of Microeconomics and Finance of the University of Mannheim. Qing Wu, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Vice Mayor of Shanghai and Chairman of the SAIF Board, welcomed the International Evaluation Committee on behalf of SAIF Board and thanked the experts for their efforts and contributions on the two-day review. After carefully listening to the feedback from the committee, Qing Wu stated that the experts carried out “diagnostics" for SAIF’s development and the valuable suggestions put forward are very inspiring and helpful for SAIF to move forward. In the future, these useful opinions will be integrated into SAIF’s practice and drive SAIF’s advancement. He believed that with the ongoing attention and support of the experts, SAIF will better serve its mission, cultivate more outstanding financial professionals and contribute to the construction of Shanghai into an international financial hub as well as China's financial sector.

On November 20th, 2019, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University and CCB Fund signed a strategic cooperation agreement at SAIF Xuhui Campus. Sun Zhichen, Chairman of CCB Fund, attended the ceremony, along with Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean at SAIF, Prof. Feng Li, Associate Director of China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) and Co-Director of Shanghai Advanced Institute for Financial Research (SAIFR), Prof. Xiaokang Yang, Executive Vice President of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Prof. Hong Yan, Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research at SAIF, Prof. Jie Pan, Associate Dean at SAIF, and Prof. Xianglin Li, Associate Director of CAFR and Director of FinTech Research Center. According to the agreement, the two parties aim to strengthen the FinTech capabilities of CCB Fund to the greatest extent and use FinTech as its core driving force to continuously improve its capabilities of investment, customer services, product innovation, risk management and value creation. They will also create an innovation research base and closely integrate cutting-edge technologies with industry trends and practice. The two parties will create an open academic research platform to explore research cooperation on application-oriented topics, cultivate talents that meet the needs of the industry, solve practical problems, serve the structural transformation and drive the prosperity of the industry. This strategic cooperation is regarded as a valuable practice of "joint innovation" in academia and investment.

Recently, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Shanghai Jiao Tong University released the employment report of its Master of Finance (MF) and full-time Finance MBA (FMBA) graduates in 2019. In spite of the challenging employment situation, the graduates of these two programs continued to rise against the trend, and the average annual salaries rose to a new level, both hitting a record high. This year, SAIF MF Program saw a total of 86 graduates, an increase of 39 from the previous year, which are the first batch of graduates after the expansion of the Program. There are also 42 graduates from the full-time FMBA Program. In order to help students to find the optimal professional roadmaps, SAIF Career Development Center (CDC) builds on the education philosophy of customized advantage development, provides diversified employment opportunities and solutions and facilitates SAIF graduates fully demonstrate their excellent quality and professional skills in the fierce market competition, who have been generally favored by employers, with significantly increasing salaries. This year, 12% of SAIF MF graduates and 11% of SAIF FMBA graduates boast a starting annual salary of more than RMB800,000.

On September 3rd, a joint education agreement between SAIF and BOCOM (Bank of Communications) Institute of Finance was signed in Shanghai. Sixian Jiang, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU); Guangshao Tu, Adjunct Professor of SJTU and Executive Director of SAIF; Deqi Ren, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Bank of Communications; and Mang Guo, Member of the CPC Committee and Vice President of the Bank of Communications, witnessed the ceremony and delivered speeches. Chun Chang, Professor of Finance and Executive Dean of SAIF; and Yijun Wang, Executive Vice President of BOCOM Institute of Finance, signed the agreement and exchanged signed copies. Once this agreement comes into force, the two parties will make full use of their respective advantages and engage in a number of in-depth partnership initiatives, including: middle and high-end talent training, case studies, knowledge resource co-creation, teaching resource sharing, and joint branding and communication campaigns. The cooperation is aimed to facilitate the integration of industry, academia and research, and to drive the clustering and cultivation of financial professionals. The ceremony was followed by a closed-door seminar on Fin-Tech. Feng Li, then Professor of Accounting at SAIF; and Feng Liu, Deputy General Manager of IT Management Department of the Bank of Communications, shared their insights on the “Applications and Challenges of Technological Development in Banking” and “Prospects ofFin-Tech Development in Banking and BOCOM’s Technological Strategy”. Prof. David Li from SAIF presided over the panel discussion, during which the panelists presented their views on technological changes in the financial sector.