As the first socialist normal university established after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, East China Normal University (ECNU) has attached great importance to ideological and political education and research since its foundation. The School of Marxism is characterized by the solid historical root and profound academic background.

In October 1952, East China Normal University took the lead in offering a course on the history of Chinese revolution as a compulsory public political course for university students. In March 1953, the Department of Marxism-Leninism Teaching and Research was established to undertake the task of teaching public political courses for the whole university. Zhou Kang, secretary of the Party Committee of ECNU, served concurrently as the director of the department, and Feng Qi, a famous philosopher, was the vice director.

In the following adjustment of faculties and departments, the university set up a special training program of political education, Zhou Kang serving as the director and Feng Qi as the vice director. In September 1954, the special training program of political education was transformed to an undergraduate department of political education. The Department of Political Education existed well into the 1990s, and after 2001, it was successively renamed as the School of Politics and Law, the Department of Social Science, and the School of Marxism. The three main parts of Marxism (philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism) were regarded as the main disciplinary directions of the Department of Political Education, which made its disciplinary system similar to the most famous professional major PPE (philosophy-political science-economics) of Oxford and Cambridge. Therefore, the Department became one of the most important training bases for politics teachers of China’s universities and high schools, and an important platform for the discipline construction of Marxism in China. From the first half of 1956, Feng Qi lectured the course Dialectical Materialism for the Marxist-Leninist Amateur University of East China Normal University. The book How to understand the world, published by Feng Qi in March 1957, attracted the attention of Mao Zedong, who recommended it to the young comrades (see details in Mao Zedong's Letters - To Lin Ke). In September 1961, Dialectical and Historical Materialism (the trial edition), one of whose editors-in-chief was Feng Qi, was issued by Shanghai People’s Publishing House.

In December 1970, the courses of political theory were resumed, and the teaching group of public politics courses was organized to undertake the teaching role of politics courses for the whole university. In April 1984, the Department of Political Education added the undergraduate major of ideological and political education. In January 1987, the Teaching and Research Department of Marxism-Leninism was transformed to the University Teaching Department of Marxism-Leninism, which was renamed as the University Teaching Department of Social Science in January 1989.

At the beginning of reform and opening up, East China Normal University presided over the compilation of the first moral education textbook in China in 1982, A Course on Communist Ideology and Morality. A basic course on Communist Ideology and Morality that was published in 1983 was rated as the first outstanding moral education textbook in China, which had a wide and profound influence. In 1987, Professor Feng Qi took the lead in organizing university teachers (including middle-aged scholars such as Jiang Qi, Zhang Tianfei and Gu Xuesheng, as well as younger teachers such as Tong Shijun and Chen Xixi, who worked as teachers once graduating from ECNU) to compile the textbook, A Course on the Basic Tenets of Marxism (published by Shanghai People’s Publishing House in 1988), which was a breakthrough among universities of Shanghai on the base of incorporating the achievements of philosophy, political science, economics, scientific socialism and international communist movement. This textbook won the second prize of Shanghai Second Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Science (book category). In the early 1980s, the political theory courses of East China Normal University broke through the old framework and carried out teaching reform in close connection with the reality and the need of university students, which attracted the attention of the central government. Hu Qiaomu, then a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in charge of theory and propaganda work, sent a letter to ECNU and held a symposium at the university. Guangming Daily reported on a full-page article about how East China Normal University emancipated the mind and made the teaching of Marxist theory closer and more accessible to students. In 1986, for the first time in China, ECNU was allowed to enroll postgraduates who majored in the tenets of moral education, which contributed to the training of high-quality moral education teachers.

In 1984, East China Normal University became one of the first institutions in China to establish the discipline of ideological and political education, and was one of the first universities in China to be granted to confer master’s degrees of the discipline. ECNU was also one of the 19 universities in China to enroll and train in-service university teachers of ideological and political theory to study for master degrees. In 2006, it was allowed to confer doctoral degrees of Marxist theory, and in 2007, it was granted to set up the postdoctoral research station of Marxist theory. Thanks to the achievements mentioned before, the university managed to establish a comprehensive discipline system of Marxist theory which covered master programs, first-level doctoral programs and postdoctoral research stations. In 2010, East China Normal University ranked 12th in the National Discipline Assessment of Marxist Theory and ranked 17^th in 2012. The discipline construction of Marxist theory of East China Normal University has made great efforts to achieve long-term development on the base of academic platforms such as Project 985, first-class doctoral programs and postdoctoral research stations, which contributed to the outstanding achievements in talent cultivation and scientific research.

The ideological and political theory courses of East China Normal University has been widely benefited by the earlier start of curriculum construction, fine teaching infrastructure, distinguished faculty members, sufficient material base and strict teaching management mechanism, as well as favorable international and domestic channels for academic exchanges, and therefore continues to have a wide influence on national moral education and teaching reform of ideological and political theory courses. Since the implementation of the 05 Program, the ideological and political theory courses of the School of Marxism of ECNU has been reformed with determination and won the second prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award twice, the first prize of Shanghai Teaching Achievement Award three times, and the second prize of Shanghai Teaching Achievement Award three times. After more than 60 years of persistent strive, the School of Marxism of East China Normal University has been one of the top schools in the aspects of Marxist theory education, academic research and talent training in China.