Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) has cultivated more than 6,700 high-end financial talents, including nearly 4,000 active in various fields of economy and finance sectors in the city, the institute said in a media interview on Wednesday around the time marking the 15th anniversary of its establishment.

These graduates are an indispensable and important force in participating in the process of Shanghai to build itself into an international financial center and to promote the city's economic development, said Cheng Shijun, executive dean of SAIF.

"The institute has introduced 16 tenured professors from world-class universities. Also, scholars at the institute have published a total of 56 papers in the three top journals of finance -- Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies, making SAIF the No 1 school in terms of the number of papers published in such journals," he said.

In terms of international exchanges, SAIF has carried out cooperation with more than 40 internationally renowned universities and institutions in 17 countries and regions. In July 2023, the institute opened its Southeast Asia center in Singapore as the school's first overseas operation center, which was intended to serve the Belt and Road Initiative and promote opening-up at a higher level.

"Since 2021, the think tank at SAIF has completed altogether 64 major projects and 65 decision-making consultation reports submitted by the Shanghai municipal government and several city-level governmental agencies," said Cheng.

On April 19, 2009, in order to realize the strategy of building Shanghai into an international financial center, the Shanghai municipal government established SAIF with the help of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Aiming to build a world-class financial academy in China, it is committed to serving China's financial modernization and Shanghai's efforts of becoming an international financial center.