About

On June 25, 2021, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Board of Directors officially informed the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) that its accreditation had been extended for an additional five years. SAIF first earned its AACSB accreditation in 2016 and became one of the youngest accredited business schools in the world. International AACSB accredited institutions must complete an intensive peer-review process every five years to ensure continued compliance with evolving business education standards. From May 9th to May 11th, an AACSB Peer Review Team (PRT) conducted a virtual continuous improvement review on SAIF. The PRT was chaired by Professor Kalok Chan (Former Dean of the School of Business, Chairman of the Department of Finance, the Chinese University of Hong Kong), with Professor Wei-Chi Tsai (Dean, School of Business, National Chengchi University) and Professor Chae-Yeol Yang (Dean, School of Business Administration, Chonnam National University) as members. After a series of online interviews and conversations with SAIF stakeholders (including the management team, faculty, staff, students, alumni, as well as representatives of donors and employers), the PRT completed its comprehensive evaluation on SAIF's development during the past five years. These included its development strategies and goals, faculty management, intellectual contributions, educational programs, curriculum management, allocation of resources, and other aspects. After the review, the PRT applauded the outstanding achievements made by SAIF over the past five years. "SAIF has an open, friendly, and collegial culture. The school offers high-quality courses and provides students with a strong theoretical foundation, international perspectives, and local insights. Meanwhile, SAIF is quite responsive to market needs; for example, it comes up with the Fintech track for the MF program, and the Innovation Finance track for the EMBA program. In addition, its Chinese Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) fulfills an important mission of policy research and applied research, and creates research impact that can influence policy making,"stated Professor Kalok Chan, on behalf of the PRT. "Modeled after leading business schools in the world, SAIF obtained its initial AACSB accreditation only six years since its inception. The successful re-accreditation this year undoubtedly marks the recognition of our achievements in the past 12 years by the international peers. With our world-class faculty, innovative research, and leading curricula, SAIF will continue to provide finance education to the highest standards, endeavor to fulfill its mission to be a world-class institution, and make greater contributions to the financial industry development both in China and globally,"said Professor Chun Chang, SAIF Executive Dean.

Shanghai Ranking Consultancy introduced the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2021 on May 26, 2021. Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and Tsinghua University ranked 1st and 2nd among mainland Chinese universities in Finance. In terms of the specific evaluation of academic indicators in Finance, SJTU ranked 1st among mainland Chinese universities with the weighted number of papers published in top journals scoring at 56.8, the average impact of papers published scoring at 81.8, and the percentage of internationally cooperative papers published scoring at 82.3. Shanghai Ranking Consultancy is a top-class organization dedicating to research on higher education intelligence and consultation. It has been the official publisher of the Academic Ranking of World Universities since 2009, and its Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) contains rankings of universities in 54 subjects. In 2021, more than 1,800 out of 4,000 universities across 93 countries and regions were listed among its rankings. GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects, including: papers published, research influence, international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards. Compared with last year, the number of universities in mainland China on the list (and the total number of their listed subjects) significantly increased by 7.5% and 11.3%, respectively, this year. In 2021, SJTU ranked among the world's top 10 in 6 subjects, with more than 40 subjects on the list in total; it ranks 1st in Marine/Ocean Engineering.

On May 13, 2021, the SAIF Workshop was held for the second time in the auditorium of Tsung Dao LEE library at the Minhang Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Professor Chun Zhang (Executive Dean, Professor of Finance and Huifu Chair Professor at SAIF), was invited as a guest speaker to share his insights on the theme of “Excessively Loose Monetary and Fiscal Policies”. In his speech, Professor Chang analyzed the loosening trend of the international monetary and fiscal policy, which posed new challenges to both the conventional macro-finance theoretical framework and the practice of monetary and fiscal policies. He further pointed out that the model of high debt and low-interest rates had limited sustainability and would bring long-term problems, such as high inflation and deficit risks. Professor Chang then discussed why developed countries have adopted unconventional monetary and fiscal policies at this time. He emphasized that the unconventional monetary and fiscal policies could not solve the fundamental problem of development. On the contrary, it would bring a series of negative feedback loops such as increasing wealth disparity, and continuous increases for government deficit and debt ratios. These would trap countries in a vicious circle. In response to this problem, Professor Zhang put forward three approaches for China. First, we must encourage population growth, promote scientific and technological innovation, and accelerate institutional reforms. Second, we must narrow wealth disparity through precise poverty alleviation efforts. Third, we must identify the reason for the weakness in China's international finances and avoid structural risks brought about by high debt.

Recently, the paper "Under-Diversification and Idiosyncratic Risk Externalities" by Professor Chao Zi, Assistant Professor of Finance at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), was published by the top international finance journal Journal of Financial Economics (JFE). Sponsored by the School of Business at the University of Rochester, JFE is one of the Top 3 international financial journals in the world, along with Journal of Finance (JF) and Review of Financial Studies (RFS). It's a peer-reviewed academic journal covering both theoretical and empirical types of research within financial economics. The paper was co-authored by Professor Chao Zi, together with Dejanir Silva (Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Felipe S. Iachan (Professor at the EPGE Finance School in Brazil). It focuses on the topic of "Under-Diversification and Idiosyncratic Risk Externalities" and yields targeted solutions. By constructing a macro-financial model, the authors found that idiosyncratic uncertainty did cause underinvestment and excessive aggregate risk-taking, which had a significant impact upon welfare. They point out that optimal allocation could be implemented through financial regulation using a tax benefit on debt and risk-weighted capital requirements on financial intermediaries.

On April 21, 2021, the first “Yangtze River Finance” workshop at SAIF was inaugurated in the Yangtze River New Financial Demonstration District. It was jointly sponsored by Nanjing Jiangbei New District and the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Nearly 100 staff from Jiangbei New District attended the conference. Qun Luo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Work Committee of Jiangbei New District, delivered a speech at the event on behalf of Jiangbei New District. He said that under the new development pattern of "Domestic and International Dual Circulation", Jiangbei New District should seize upon development opportunities to vigorously promote the financial industry with joint efforts made by relevant departments and entrepreneurs. He also thanked SJTU for its care and support for the Jiangbei New District of Nanjing. Professor Qigui Zhu (Secretary of the CPC SAIF Committee) delivered a speech on the theme of the "Macro-economic Situation in the Post-epidemic Era" from six aspects. These include: the macro-economic analysis system, the construction of the new development pattern, the complexity of the global economy, the deployment of the government's economic work, the analysis and judgment of the economic situation, and the thinking behind high-quality development.

On April 17, 2021, an appreciation ceremony for the 3rd anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) Donation Wall was held at the Xuhui Campus at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Professor Guangshao Tu (Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director at SAIF) and Professor Chun Chang (Executive Dean, Professor of Finance and Huifu Chair Professor at SAIF) delivered welcome speeches. At the beginning of the ceremony, Professor Jie Pan (Vice Dean at SAIF) introduced the history of the SAIF Donation Wall to the donors and alumni. In April 2018, in recognition of the contributions to the development of SAIF made by donors, the SAIF Donor Wall was officially established in the south hall at SAIF at Xuhui Campus. At present, 100 individuals, 14 classes, and 19 enterprises have been listed on the wall. Many of them have made multiple donations, which fully reflects the SAIF donation culture — "Be thankful for mutual benefits". In April 2019, SAIF ran a special donation program called "Step By Step" to celebrate its 10th anniversary of establishment. Professor Chang said in his speech that SAIF donors demonstrate the "Gratitude"spirit of both SJTU and the International Business School, which is one of the most precious assets of SAIF since its establishment twelve years ago. He hoped that with the spirit of SJTU and the power of SAIF, donors and SAIF would continue to be of benefit to each other. As a representative donor of the "Step By Step”program, Professor Tu said that the development of SAIF was inseparable from the care and support of all kinds of shareholders, with special recognition being given to the donors. Through the program, Professor Tu jointly established the "SAIF Qinglan Fund" with several professors. He hoped that these programs and funds would promote young scholars to collaborate in their efforts with teaching and research to build SAIF into a world-class financial school.

On April 15th, 2021, CAFR-FinVolution Joint Research Laboratory at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), which was donated by FinVolution Technology, was officially unveiled at the FinVolution Partner Conference with the theme of "FinVolution: New Business Model of Future". Professor Guangshao Tu, Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director of Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), delivered a speech at the conference. The launch of the CAFR-FinVolution Joint Research Laboratory represents the recognition and ardent expectation of the industry for SAIF's academic achievement. It will also greatly support SAIF's research and practice in the field of digital finance. SAIF will continue to forge ahead with determination, give back to society with outstanding research, and make unremitting contributions to the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center.

On March 11th, 2021, the inaugural SAIF Workshop was launched in the auditorium of Tsung Dao LEE library at the Minhang Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Professor Tan Wang, Professor of Finance and MF Program Academic Director at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at SJTU, was invited as a guest speaker to share his insights on the theme of "Investment Overview". Nearly 150 students attended the event, along with Professor Hong Yan, Professor of Finance and Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research at SAIF. SAIF Workshop is a series of academic lectures on finance, designed for SJTU faculty and students and built on SJTU’s Master Forum. In each session, a professor at SAIF will be invited to interpret relevant field knowledge, analyze macro financial landscapes, and explore financial development models, business strategies or market trends. In this session, Professor Wang reviewed the evolution of classic investment philosophy. He introduced the key concepts of investment around three key words of value, risk, and market effectiveness. In addition, Professor Wang also discussed several portfolio theories aimed at risk diversification and explained to the audience how to "not put eggs in the same basket", from an academic point of view. Furthermore, he shared his thoughts on emerging concepts such as ESG investment and financial empowerment of the real economy. He believed that today's finance not only seeks higher returns and risk diversification, but also takes into account social responsibility. It is hoped that the workshop would bring some inspiration to the audience on their future asset allocation and to assist their understanding for a number of issues, from the perspectives of both finance and dynamics.

On the afternoon of March 11th, 2021, the white paper "Embracing the Challenge at the Crossroad: A New Chapter in China's FinTech Industry" was jointly released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). The white paper, authored by Professor Jie Hu, Professor of Practice at SAIF, reviews China's FinTech journey in three stages. It explores three innovative drivers behind the evolution, discusses the current hot topics in the domain, puts forward the challenges faced by the industry and regulators alike, and inspires readers to drill down into the key issues.

On March 8th, 2021, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) held the Commemoration of the 111th Anniversary of International Women's Day and the Awarding Ceremony of Advanced Individuals at Minhang Campus. Forty female employees, including Professor Jiang Zhan, won the SJTU honorary title of March 8 Red-Banner Pacesetter for 2019-2020. Professor Zhan Jiang joined SAIF in July 2011 and is one of the first full-time professors at SAIF. She has made outstanding contributions to SAIF's development in teaching, research, and management.