The School of Marxism is a second-tier institution of East China Normal University. Professor Gu Hongliang, vice president of ECNU and head of the Propaganda Department of ECNU, is the dean of the School.

The School of Marxism is honored with four titles, namely, the National Key School of Marxism, the Model School of Marxism among Shanghai Universities, the School of Marxism Jointly Built by the Propaganda Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Shanghai Peak Discipline Construction Unit of Marxism. The School is also selected as one of the A Class schools in the Fourth China’s Disciplinary Evaluation of the Ministry of Education. 

The School has set up four departments and one institute, namely the Department of Basic Marxist Theory, the Department of Sinicization of Marxism, the Department of Ideological and Political Education, the Department of the CPC’s History, and the Institute of the CPC’s History and Construction. It has also established four academic platforms, namely the National Teaching and Training Base for University Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses, the Training Center for University Ideological and Political Faculty Sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and the Research Base of Socialist Theory System with Chinese Characteristics Sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. Furthermore, it has organized several academic research centers, including the International Dissemination Center for the Achievements of Sinicization of Marxism, the Research Center for Civic Development and Modern Moral Education, the Research Center for Marxism and Contemporary Development, and the research center for the CPC’s Construction of new economic and social Organizations in Shanghai.

The School has created an undergraduate program in ideological and political education, and established a comprehensive discipline system of Marxism which covers master programs, doctoral programs of first-level discipline and postdoctoral research stations. Some of the teaching staff also play a role in the State Council Discipline Evaluation Group, the Teaching Steering Committee of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Colleges and Universities Sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and the Textbook Compilation Group of Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project Sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Some of the teachers are honored with distinguished titles, namely the National Outstanding Teacher, the National Outstanding Teacher of Ideological and Political Theory Courses, and the Host of the Shanghai Master Studio of Ideological and Political Theory Courses.

In recent years, the School has made significant breakthroughs in national and local key projects and scientific researches, and has obtained two major projects of the National Social Science Fund, namely the Research on Promoting the Construction of Government Integrity, Business Integrity, Social Integrity and Judicial Credibility and the Research on Maintaining the Purity of the Communist Party of China, and one key project of the National Social Science Fund. At the School, more than one-third of the faculty members preside over the projects of the National Social Science Fund, and eighty percent of them take charge of the provincial and ministerial projects. At the same time, the School, one of the seven pilot schools for postgraduate ideological and political theory courses in China, has undertaken two international cooperative research projects and over thirty projects entrusted by government, state-owned enterprises and public institutions.

The Marxist theory discipline of East China Normal University has carved out a number of influential research directions such as the international dissemination of achievements of Sinicization of Marxism, the theory and practice of Sinicization of Marxism, the social development and civic education, the cultivation of socialist core values, the ideological and political education and management, the Chinese road and Chinese model, and the teaching research of ideological and political theory courses.