The School of Politics and International Relations (Lanzhou University)’s predecessor is the Department of International Politics established in 1998. In 2004, the Department of International Politics was reorganized into the School of Politics and Administration which later became School of Marxism. Following the Ministry of Education’s instruction, Lanzhou University, as member of Project 985, established an independent School of Marxism, in place of the School of Politics and Administration. The faculties relevant with International majors went to other schools. With consistent efforts, in June 2018, the School of Politics and International Relations of Lanzhou University was established.

In charge of the Department of Political Science and the Department of International Politics, the School of Politics and International Relations has two undergraduate majors in international politics, and political and administrative science, and two master's degree programs in international politics and international relations. In 2011, the major of international politics was officially recognized as a specialty major of Gansu Province, and a provincial key discipline in 2012. 404 Chinese students are now studying in the school, including 288 undergraduates and 116 graduates. 20 inter-students from Russia, Ukraine and other Central Asian countries are also studying.

In terms of talent training, the school gives theory and practice equal value, aiming to cultivate outstanding innovative students with exceptional capabilities. Undergraduate education emphasizes the training of basic knowledge and comprehensive quality while graduate education focuses on academic research training. Students graduate from our school are very popular among employers and advanced universities because of their solid professional skills. The main employers of our graduates include prestigious universities, academic institutions, government departments, news agencies, and embassies, consulates. Some outstanding master graduates chose to continue their study at famous universities in China and overseas.

The full-time faculty of the school includes 8 professors,1 senior lecturer，13 associate professors，13 lecturers, many of whom have once worked in embassies and Confucius Institutes abroad. Some are members of renowned academic associations, such as China National Association for International Studies, Institute of Russian, and Eastern European& Central Asian Studies Chinese Academy of Social Science, Institute of Sino-Russia Relations, Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies Center. Also some serve as members of editor boards of academic journals such as Journal of World Economic Research, World Economics and Politics, Journal of Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies, Foreign Affairs Review, South Asian Studies, Russian Studies, Global Review.

The school, oriented to meeting the needs of national and provincial major development strategies, has made significant achievement in academic research. Since 1994 when the Institute for Central Asian Studies was established, the school has carried out 46 research projects sponsored by provincial governments and ministries of central government and 11 other projects. The publications by our school faculties are also worth mentioning, including over 40 books and more than 400 journal papers.

The school takes serving for the country and the society as its primary mission. The school-affiliated Institute for Central Asian Studies was recognized by Education Ministry as one of the earliest Regions and Countries Studies Research Bases in 2012, gaining academic reputation and popularity as a think tank. In 2017, the school-affiliated Afghanistan Research Center, the Georgian Research Center, the Indian Research Center and the Italian Research Center were registered as Education Ministry’s Regions and Countries Studies Research Centers.

The school has also maintained close partnership with many well-known research institutions at home and abroad. The list of domestic partners includes School of International Studies of Peking University, Institute of International Relations of Tsinghua University, School of International Studies of Renmin University of China, School of International Relations & Public Affairs of Fudan University, China Foreign Affairs University, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Institute of World Economics and Politics Chinese Academy of Social Science, Institute of Russian, and Eastern European& Central Asian Studies Chinese Academy of Social Science, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of South Asian Studies of Sichuan University, Central Asia Research Institute of Xinjiang University. Foreign partners include Central Asia-Caucasus Strategy Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Russia, Europe and Eurasian Institute of George Washington University, Romonosov Moscow State University, National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and other research institutions in Central Asian and Caucasus countries, India and Pakistan.