On February 26, Professor Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University (LNU), and concurrently Dean of the China Economic Research Institute (CERI), chaired the 2026 Work Conference of the Institute of China Economy at the Puhe Campus. Present at the meeting were Professor Dong Baomin, Deputy Director of the Division of Economics; Professor Ma Xiangjun and Professor He Chao, Deputy Deans of the CERI; and 20 young faculty members from the CERI, Li Anmin Institute of Economic Research, School of Finance and Trade, and Institute of International Education.
At the meeting, President Yu Miaojie first briefed the participants on the university’s recent development, particularly the significant progress made in the Double First-Class Initiative. He highly commended the pivotal role the CERI has played in the construction of the first-class discipline of Applied Economics since its establishment, especially its outstanding performance in producing landmark achievements. Since its founding in 2022, CERI has recruited 14 high-level talents and achieved a breakthrough for LNU in publishing in top international academic journals. Over the past three years, faculty members of the Institute have published a total of 36 Class A economics papers, including 22 English papers in top international academic journals, contributing 12 landmark achievements to the university’s Double First-Class Initiative, accounting for two-thirds of the university’s total landmark achievements. The remaining 14 papers were published in top Chinese authoritative journals, continuously attracting academic attention and generating extensive academic influence and social value.
President Yu Miaojie called on all faculty members to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences Work, accelerate the construction of an independent knowledge and theoretical system of Chinese economics, and help the university reach new heights in the Double First-Class Initiative. He pointed out that current research on Chinese economics should focus on breakthroughs in the following three aspects: firstly, deeply understand the necessity of the times for building an independent knowledge system, as a single perspective of Western economics cannot fully explain the successful practice of Chinese-style modernization; secondly, clearly grasp the practical challenges in the construction process, shifting the research perspective from aggregate analysis in the context of globalization to structural analysis of unbalanced and inadequate development; thirdly, clarify research goals and tasks, focus on serving the development concepts of the new era, and deeply interpret the socialist nature of the socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics.
President Yu Miaojie encouraged young faculty members to base their research on the reality of China’s economic and social development, thoroughly study the classic works of Marxism-Leninism, Xi Jinping Economic Thought, and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on education. Taking General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences Work as the fundamental guideline, they should focus on major propositions of genuine epochal significance in their limited academic careers.
Meanwhile, President Yu Miaojie deployed key work for 2026, covering multiple aspects such as talent cultivation and scientific research: firstly, continuously improve the quality of the LNU Economics Minor Program and explore mechanisms for inter-university exchanges and credit recognition for senior undergraduate students; secondly, accelerate the preparation of doctoral programs at the Institute of China Economy and Li Anmin Institute of Economic Research, improve the doctoral student training system, optimize curriculum design, fully consider differences in students’ backgrounds, and provide more personalized academic training; thirdly, solidly advance the application for national-level fund projects in 2026, strengthen guidance from senior faculty to young faculty, select topics closely aligned with national economic and social development trends, and especially encourage young faculty to be confident, brave to try, and unafraid of failure, ensuring that “all eligible applications are submitted” to hone their academic skills through persistent practice; fourth, build a multi-level academic exchange platform, improve the working mechanism of on-campus academic activities such as the Frontier Economics High-end Lectures, continuously invite young scholars from home and abroad to exchange at the university, make full use of the resources of world-leading scholars to be invited by the university in the new semester, organize symposiums and short-term courses, and foster a strong academic atmosphere. The leadership team of the Institute stated that they will fully implement the new semester work deployment, anchor the goals and tasks, and make solid contributions to the university’s Double First-Class Initiative. In addition, President Yu Miaojie introduced Professor Zhu Dongming, a renowned econometric scholar and newly recruited high-level talent in 2026, and had in-depth exchanges with young faculty members on their academic backgrounds and research directions, encouraging the “mentorship” mechanism to produce first-class academic achievements in Northeast China in the new era.
On the occasion of the official opening of the Division of Economics Teaching and Research Building, President Yu Miaojie led the participating faculty members to visit the new office area of the CERI on-site, learned in detail about the allocation of faculty offices, and put forward specific guidance on the functional layout and usage arrangements of public spaces such as meeting rooms. He emphasized that the university will spare no effort to provide a solid material foundation for faculty members and students of the Division of Economics and create an efficient, comfortable, and open academic environment. Everyone should fully cherish and make good use of the superior working environment and conditions of the building, and devote themselves to academic research and innovation. LNU should not only continuously produce high-level research achievement that keep pace with, conform to, and respond to the times, but also cultivate more academic masters, highlight the characteristics of LNU, and form the “LNU School of Thought”.
The convening of this meeting clarified the 2026 work objectives and specific deployment of the CERI, provided high-level guidance for the academic research of young faculty in the university’s important economics fields, and issued important instructions for the Institute to continue contributing to the key tasks of the university’s Double First-Class Initiative.
Source: China Economic Research Institute
