The College of International Relations/Institute of Overseas Chinese at Huaqiao University was established in April 2015. Our college is the research base (Fujian) for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and belongs to the first batch of characteristic new think tanks in universities in Fujian Province. The College currently covers 2 first-level disciplines, political science and world history. The discipline of political science can be traced back to the establishment of the Department of Politics in 1962, which is one of the disciplines with the longest history at Huaqiao University and a provincial key discipline in Fujian Province. It is also the “Double First-class Plateau Discipline” in Fujian Province. The College also has 3 high-end teaching and research platforms: Model United Nations Laboratory for practical teaching, Overseas Chinese Research Resource Center ( the largest one in China’s universities) and Siduan Cultural Relics Museum (the largest overseas Chinese cultural relics museum in China’s universities).
The College has a strong faculty, with 34 full-time teachers (including two foreign teachers). Among them, there are nine professors, ten associate professors and 15 lecturers. Most of the teachers have doctoral degrees and overseas study experience. seven teachers have won the title of talent at the provincial or ministerial level.
In terms of scientific research, the College has launched research in the fields of political theory, great-power relations, Southeast Asian studies, overseas Chinese, public diplomacy, “Belt and Road”, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries and Psychoculturology. The College includes research institutes such as the Institute of Thailand, the Institute of Malaysian Studies, the Institute of Overseas Chinese Public Diplomacy, the Institute of Psychology and Culture and the Center for International Security Studies. Among them, the Institute of Thailand has been selected as the Country Research Base of the Ministry of Education, and the Institute of Malaysian Studies has been selected as the “Belt and Road” Country and Region Research Center of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. Our faculty members have undertaken 95 national and provincial research projects, published 60 academic works and won 7 provincial awards for outstanding achievements in social sciences since 2016. The publications of the College involved “Blue Book of Overseas Chinese”, “Blue Book of Thailand”, “Blue Book of Malaysia”, etc. The College also edited and published “Overseas Chinese Literature Journal”, which has a wide influence on academic circles at home and abroad.
Regarding undergraduate training, the International Affairs and International Relations program began to recruit students in September 2015. According to the Evaluation Report on Chinese Universities and Disciplines (2020-2021) released by Network of Science and Education Evaluation in China in July 2020, the program ranked first in China among 17 universities offering this program. It was selected as the provincial first-class major in 2021. One-third of the courses of this program are taught in English, forming 2 distinctive pathways: experimental classes for international civil servants and overseas Chinese affairs and diplomacy. This program has one national first-class course and one provincial first-class course. It enrolls 35 domestic students and 30 overseas students every year. The College also organizes Model United Nations, diplomatic and foreign affairs etiquette competitions and other activities to expand students’ practical ability.
As for postgraduate training, the College has 2 first-level disciplines: political science and world history. The Political Science program has four research directions: International Relations, International Politics, Political Theory and Overseas Chinese Affairs Policy and Theory, aiming to cultivate high-level professionals with a solid theoretical foundation of political science, a broad vision of international relations and strong scientific research and practical ability. The College also intends to develop their ability to adapt to the needs of China and the world for political theory research, research on international issues involving overseas Chinese, overseas Chinese affairs policy and public diplomacy. The College has the unique postgraduate education innovation base of political science discipline in Fujian Province. Relying on the research characteristics of overseas Chinese at Huaqiao University, the World History program has three research directions: world modern history, history of international relations and history of overseas Chinese (world migration history), aiming to cultivate high-level interdisciplinary talents with theoretical foundation and professional knowledge in the fields of world modern history, history of overseas Chinese and history of international relations.
The College actively promotes international exchanges and cooperation and has established cooperative relations with well-known foreign universities and research institutions, including the University of Indonesia, Sungkyunkwan University, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR), Aalborg University (Denmark), Jagiellonian University (Poland), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), etc. The College and Aalborg University-DIR, Denmark, co-hosts the Journal of China and International Relations (JCIR, ISSN: 2245-8921) , which is published by Aalborg University Press, Denmark. Faculty members have lectured or attended international academic conferences in the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries. Our students have also attended exchange studies at the University of Toronto (Canada), National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Hosei University (Japan), etc. The College hosted a series of high-end international academic conferences, such as the Chinese-Thai Strategic Research Seminar, which was jointly held by Huaqiao University, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and the Thai-Chinese Cultural and Economic Association in 2012. Those academic conferences are held alternately in China and Thailand once a year and have become a famous project of China-Thailand cultural and economic exchanges. The College hosted the 2018 Sino-American Youth Dialogue. In addition, the College also hosts international academic conferences centering on topics covering the cooperation mechanism of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), global governance and mutual learning between civilizations.
