About

Founded in 1958, Shandong University of Arts (SDUA) is located in Jinan, a historic and culturally renowned city celebrated for its artesian springs. It is a university jointly supported by the Shandong Provincial People’s Government and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, and is included among Shandong Province’s supported institutions for application-oriented undergraduate education. In 2024, it was designated as a key institution for strengthening doctoral degree–granting capacity. The university holds authorization to confer master’s degrees in all first-level disciplines and professional degree categories under the Arts discipline, and offers doctoral degree programs in Arts, Music, and Fine Arts & Calligraphy.

SDUA currently boasts two campuses, Wendong and Changqing, covering more than 1,000 mu (1 mu equals about 666 square meters), with a total building area of nearly 370,000 square meters. Its library holds over 1 million volumes. The university comprises 17 academic units, 39 undergraduate majors.The university currently enrolls 8,944 undergraduates and 1,001 postgraduate students, and has 900 full-time faculty members. Among them are distinguished scholars and awardees, including: 1 National Leading Talents in Philosophy and Social Sciences; 1 “Four Batches” talent in the national propaganda and cultural system; 2 of the first cohort of National Young Cultural Talents; 11 experts receiving the State Council Special Government Allowance; 7 National Outstanding Teachers; 4 Taishan Scholars; 2 recipients of the Provincial Special Government Allowance; 1 Qilu Cultural Master; 2 Qilu Cultural Talents; 8 Young and Middle-Aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions in Shandong Province; 10 Teaching Masters in Shandong Province; 3 candidates for the “111” Leading Talents in Philosophy and Social Sciences of Shandong Province; 1 participant in the “Hundred Talents Program” for Theoretical Talents in Shandong Province; 2 discipline leaders, 1 young and middle-aged academic backbone, and 1 innovation team leader under “Haiyou Plan” in Jinan City; 5 chief experts for key disciplines (key laboratories, and humanities and social science research bases) in institutions of higher learning in Shandong Province.

The university comprises 17 academic units, including the School of Music, School of Fine Arts, School of Drama, School of Contemporary Music, School of Design, School of Arts Management, School of Dance, School of Traditional Opera and Quyi, School of Media, School of Urban Arts and Creativity, School of Film, School of Calligraphy, School of Digital and Intelligent Art Industries, School of International Arts Exchange, School of Public Education, School of Marxism, and the School of Continuing Education. The university currently offers 39 undergraduate majors, including 15 national first-class undergraduate major construction sites (Dance Performance, Painting, Environmental Design, Arts and Crafts, Musicology, Broadcasting and TV Directing, Calligraphy, Digital Media Art, Music Performance, Animation, Chinese Painting, Drama and Film Art Design, Fine Arts, Art Design, and Visual Communication Design), 6 provincial first-class undergraduate major construction sites (Art History and Theory, Composition and Composition Technology Theory, Performance, Cultural Industry Management, Dance Studies, and Sculpture); 3 national distinctive majors (Painting, Public Administration, and Art Design); 6 Shandong provincial brand distinctive majors (Painting, Public Administration, Art Design, Performance, Musicology, and Broadcasting and TV Directing); 2 Shandong provincial high-level application-oriented approved major clusters (Broadcasting and TV Directing major cluster, and Drama and Film Directing major cluster); and 1 National Talent Training Model Innovation Pilot Zone (Fine Arts Discipline Independent Talent Development Model Pilot Zone). Additionally, the university features: 1 “Shandong Provincial First-Class Discipline” Cultivation and Construction Discipline (Music and Dance Studies); 1 Shandong Province High-Level Cultivation and Construction Discipline (Fine Arts); 3 Shandong Provincial Key Disciplines (Musicology, Fine Arts, Theater and Chinese Traditional Opera, with Musicology designated as a Shandong Provincial Characteristic Key Discipline); and 8 Shandong Provincial Key Disciplines in Cultural and Artistic Sciences (Musicology, Fine Arts, Chinese Painting Studies, Design Studies, Art Theory, Dance Studies, Opera Studies, Broadcasting and TV Art Studies).

In recent years, the university has secured 110 research projects at the national and provincial/ministerial levels, including 3 major national-level key projects. Among these, Research on the Artistic Presentation and Dissemination of the Spiritual Symbols of Chinese Civilization was approved as a Major Project in Arts under the 2023 National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC). The university has also received 21 research awards at the national and provincial/ministerial levels, published over 500 papers in CSSCI and above journals, and released more than 250 books. Over the past several years, it has received over 1,200 awards at the provincial/ministerial level and above in various exhibitions, performances, and competitions, and has been approved for 64 projects under the China National Arts Fund. SDUA has won prestigious national awards, including first and second prizes in vocal performance at the 12th and 14th Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music, the Folk and Ethnic Dance Award at the 13th China Dance Lotus Award, and awards at the 7th China Calligraphy Lanting Awards. Additionally, six dance works and seven opera works were selected for the “Taoli Cup” National Youth Dance and “Lihua Cup” National Youth Opera Education and Performance Showcase, respectively. Fourteen works, including Recipient of the “Medal of the Republic”, were selected for the “Building Dreams – Our New Era Fine Arts and Photography Exhibition,” organized by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. The original documentary film Mother in War – The Jiaodong Wet Nurse was selected for the National Film Archival Program, a national “14th Five-Year Plan” Major Cultural Project, and has been permanently archived. The original large-scale dance drama The Land of the Great River was designated as a key project under the “Qilu Performing Arts Summit Plan”. The university successfully completed the design, production, and exhibition tasks for the Shandong float “National Prosperity and People’s Well-being” in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It has also hosted major national events, including the 5th “Lihua Cup” National Youth Opera Education and Performance Showcase, the 11th “Taoli Cup” National Youth Dance Education and Performance Showcase, and the 12th Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music National Vocal Competition. Moreover, it has successfully delivered the performance tasks for major national and provincial events, including the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations; the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening-up Gala Our Forty Years; the Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China Gala Strive, Chinese Sons and Daughters; the art performance in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China Great Journey; the CCTV Spring Festival Gala; and the large-scale symphonic concert The Yellow River Flows into the Sea.

The school is fully equipped with educational and teaching facilities. Classrooms are furnished with smart blackboards, live and recorded broadcasting systems, smart class electronic nameplates and other smart devices. It boasts 41 university and college-level laboratories, including piano rooms with concert-grade imported grand pianos, discussion-based smart classrooms, all-media studios, converged media laboratories, 3D printing laboratories and classic reproduction laboratories. There are also 6 on-campus performance venues such as the Starry Sky Theatre and the Dome Theatre.The school advances the inheritance, research and preservation of Qilu culture and has built a number of characteristic exhibition halls and museums, namely the Shandong New Year Woodblock Museum, Shandong Stone Relief Art Museum of the Han Dynasty, Yu Xining Chinese Painting Exhibition Hall, Shandong Lu Brocade Art Museum, Shandong Folk Paper-cut Art Museum and Liyuan Nishang Opera Costume Museum. The university has collected and preserved more than 1,000 New Year picture woodblocks mainly from the Qing Dynasty, over 190 precious Han Dynasty stone reliefs, 60 fine Chinese paintings by Yu Xining, more than 200 physical pieces of Lu brocade, over 4,000 distinctive Shandong folk paper-cut artworks, as well as a large collection of Peking opera costumes, accessories and opera librettos.In terms of scientific research platforms, the school hosts 1 national-level research institution, 12 provincial-level research bases, 1 Industry-University-Research Collaborative Innovation Center of Institutions of Higher Education in Shandong Province, and 8 provincial-level laboratories (centers). Among them, the Shandong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Urban and Rural Environmental Design is recognized as a provincial key laboratory of Shandong Province.

SDUA has vigorously promoted exchanges and collaboration with local governments, enterprises, and institutions. In recent years, it has signed strategic cooperation agreements with Weifang, Heze, Rizhao, Binzhou, and Zaozhuang cities, the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Management, Dazhong Newspaper Group, Inspur Group, Shandong Publishing Group, Shandong Museum, Shandong Opera and Dance Drama Theatre, Shandong China Railway Cultural Tourism Group, Shandong Performing Arts Group, and Jinan City Construction Group, among others. These collaborations focus on talent cultivation, artistic creation, cultural exchange, cultural heritage preservation, and cultural industry development.

The university has accelerated its internationalization efforts and improved its foreign affairs management system. In collaboration with the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), it established Shandong Province’s first art-focused study abroad training base. The university has also signed friendship and exchange agreements with more than 40 institutions across countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Australia, Romania, South Korea, and Japan, engaging in a wide range of academic exchanges, faculty and student exchanges, and collaborative art exhibitions and performances. It maintains extensive exchanges and collaborations with renowned art institutions such as the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy and l’École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI-Les Ateliers) in Paris, France.

Alumni are the most valuable asset of Shandong University of the Arts.Over the past 68 years since its founding, SDUA has cultivated more than 60,000 qualified art professionals for the nation and society. Among its distinguished alumni are renowned vocalist and educator Professor Peng Liyuan, as well as a host of outstanding graduates including Ni Ping, Liu Xilin, Wang Yidong, Sui Jianguo, Yan Ping, Wang Keju, Wang Yancheng, Chen Jin, Xu Shaohua, Wang Huichun, Wang Jing, Su Yan, Huang Gang, Guo Yuejin, Song Changlin, Zhou Long, Tong Nian, Guo Tingting, Yu Guanqun, Li Xue, Jin Dong, and Liu Tao. These individuals have achieved remarkable accomplishments in their respective artistic fields, with many becoming nationally acclaimed musicians, visual artists, performers, and art educators, making significant contributions to the development and prosperity of cultural and artistic endeavors in Shandong and across China.