The School of Philosophy and Sociology grew out of the Department of Philosophy. In January 1975 the preparatory group for Philosophy was set up, and in 1978 the Department of Philosophy was established and recruited its first batch undergraduate students. In 1994 the bid for Sociology was started. In 1996 the Department of Philosophy recruited its first undergraduate students and was later renamed the Department of Philosophy and Sociology. In July 2004 the Department of Philosophy developed into the School of Philosophy and Sociology.

The School now offers philosophy and sociology as its two undergraduate programs and six graduate programs awarding master’s degree, namely Marxist Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Western Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Technology, Sociology and Demography. Besides, it has the following centres/institutes as its affiliates: Lanzhou University Centre for Research and Assessment of Social and Economic Development in West China, Lanzhou University Centre for Religious and Cultural Studies, Lanzhou University Centre for Social Science Survey and Data Analysis, Lanzhou University Research Centre for Ecological Philosophy and Civilization, Lanzhou University Institute for Islamic Studies, and Lanzhou University Centre for Gender/Women’s Studies. The journal Science Economy Society edited by the School has been successively selected to the CSSCI source journals since 1992. The School has a small-sized library and a reference room at the Yuzhong campus. It owns over 32,000 books and over 9,000 volumes of more than 140 journals home and abroad.

The School has 42 full-time teachers, including 12 professors, 21 associate professors and 9 lecturers, of which two professors received special government allowance from the State Council, one is honored the Provincial Leading Talent, and five have overseas education background. Meanwhile, the School has more than 20 part-time professors from China and abroad dedicated to teaching and research.

The School has been in charge of a variety of grant programs, including those of provincial level at first and of national and international level at present. The coverage of our research topics is increasing.

In the past three years the teachers were in charge of 50 grant programs, among which 10 were of national level, 3 provincial level, and 37 lateral programs. The teachers have published 131 research articles and 23 academic monographs. Among the articles, 27 were classified as A according to the criteria set by Lanzhou University, 15 as B, 27 as C, and 65 as D. Among the monographs, 11 were published by famous publishers, such as People’s Publishing House. One of the School’s open online courses won the First Prize of the National Classic Open Online Course Award of the Ministry of Education. One of the monographs was awarded the Second Prize of the Translation World Academic Classics Cup (Chinese Edition). One of the postdoctoral research reports won the First Prize of the Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award and was collected by the China Social Science Postdoctoral Research Library. One of the faculty members won the Fellowship of the European Research Council awarded by the CNRS. The School won one First Prize, two Second Prize and one Third Prize of the Provincial Philosophical and Social Science Research Award.

During the past three years many of the faculty attended more than 100 conferences in China and abroad and gave 169 lectures in and out of the university. 28 of the faculty members took 77 part-time positions in various academic institutes. The School invited 50 Chinese and overseas scholars to 6 conferences here and to give 46 lectures, including Professor Gao Bai from Duke University to the university’s Famous Scholars Forum, Professor Liu Shiding and Professor Xu Longfei from Peking University, Professor Yang Guorong from East China Normal University, Senior Scientist Yi Fuxian from University Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Nizami from Oxford University, Professor Gudrun Krämer from Freie Universität Berlin to Cuiying Grand Rostrum (cydjt.lzu.edu.cn), and Professor Ma Lin from Renmin University of China, Professor Peter S. Li from the Royal Society of Canada, Professor Jiang Yi from the School of Philosophy BNU, Professor Yu Weiya from Peking University and so forth. The academic communication promoted the talent cultivation, enriched the vibrant campus life, and expanded educational horizons of our students.

In 2013 the School was awarded the Outstanding School during the 2013 Undergraduate Teaching Evaluation by the Ministry of Education.