On September 27, the School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA) at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) was established. It was merged from the former School of International and Diplomatic Affairs, Department of International Politics, and the International Civil Servants program.

SIRPA enrolls undergraduate students who major in International Politics and study in the International Civil Servants program. It is also authorized to offer four kinds of Doctorate Degrees for Politics, International Relations, Diplomacy and International Relations, as well as five types of Master Degrees for International Relations, International Politics, Diplomacy, Chinese and Foreign Political Institution, and International Public Management.

Dean of SIRPA, Guo Shuyong, said the establishment of the school was necessary for SISU to adapt to its transformative development strategy, and it is an important strategic step for SISU to make the most of its advantages in multilingualism, to integrate its strength in discipline in politics and to promote the construction of a collaborative innovation platform in regional country studies.

SIRPA has good academic relationships with many other universities and institutes of International Studies. Delegates from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peking University, Renmin University of China and Fudan University came to commend the establishment of SIRPA. They said SIRPA could use its multilingual advantage to form a new path of development different from other organizations' studies relating to international politics, and could also play an important role in China's external communications, helping Chinese enterprises to do business abroad.

Up until now, SISU has already had several key academic research bases of regional and country studies. These include Middle East Studies Institute, Center for European Union Studies, Center for Russian Studies, and Center for British Studies. It has characteristic research systems in regional country studies and is dedicated to carry out more work in international studies.

The Forum of International Regional Governance and the Cultivation of Innovative Talents was held on the same day. Scholars discussed topics like the theory and practice of international regional governance, China's regional governance strategy and the cultivation of talents in regional governance.