Shandong University, or SDU was in the first group of China's A-level universities to be listed in the double first-class university program.

This is a tertiary education development initiative, which aims to develop leading Chinese universities and their individual faculty departments into world-class institutions by the end of 2050.

SDU is said to be one of the universities with the most complete array of disciplines in China. The school has 44 first-level disciplines authorized for doctorate degrees, one second-level discipline authorized for doctorates and 51 first-level disciplines authorized for master's degrees, covering all disciplines except military science.

During the 13th Five-Year period (2016-20), SDU created a strong momentum to introduce first-class disciplines and promote the modernization of its existing disciplines.

It has focused on its discipline configuration for strategic emerging fields, strengthening the development of a curriculum with five first-class disciplines – such as mathematics and data science, chemistry and materials science – as the core. The school subsequently built a discipline system with an efficient structure, distinctive features and competitive advantages for the coordinated development of the liberal arts, sciences and medicine.

By the end of the 13th Five-Year period, the academic influence and contribution of 18 disciplines, including mathematics and physics, were ranked in the top 1percent of the Essential Science Indicators global rankings.

Five disciplines – including chemistry and materials science – were ranked in the top 1‰ in the ESI global rankings. Some 13 disciplines, including control science and engineering and biological engineering, were ranked among the top 100 international mainstream disciplines – while financial mathematics, cryptography, reproductive medicine, underground engineering and other fields entered the world first-class rankings.

Meanwhile SDU’s new Confucius research school started to grow fast and a number of emerging interdisciplinary disciplines – such as archaeological technology, data science, artificial intelligence, and intelligent medical engineering – have moved from strength to strength.

During the 14th Five-Year period (2021-25), SDU plans to hold fast to its overarching goal of building a world-class university and strengthen its development of disciplines.

The school will vigorously promote a strategy of integrated development and carry out 11 discipline integration innovation programs, including intelligent engineering and intelligent manufacturing.

It will also develop strategic emerging interdisciplinary disciplines, reconstruct its teaching and research organization system and management and operations mechanisms. It plans to effectively promote the integration of academic disciplines, industry-education integration, science-education integration, medical-education integration and military-civilian integration.

Disciplines in key SDU research fields

Humanities: Chinese language and literature, philosophy, foreign languages and literature

Social science: Marxist theory, applied economics, business administration, political science

Basic science: mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology

Engineering science: Materials science and engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering

Information science: Control science and engineering, cyber science and technology

Medical science: pharmacy, preclinical medicine, clinical medicine, nursing