The study of world history conducted by Shandong University has a long history. In 1901, the Ancient Shandong University broke through the old system of "Chinese Body and Western Usage" and combined Chinese History with Foreign History as "Chinese and Foreign History". Passing down from generation to generation, the school saw a great amount of famous historians, such as Guo Binhe, Wu Tingqiu, Lao she, Huang Shaoxiang, Xu Siyuan, Chen Tongxie, Chen Yunzhang, Luo Niansheng, Liu Minghan, Song Jiheng, etc. In 1981, the Ministry of Education established the undergraduate major of World History. Shandong University was one of the four universities directly under the ministry of education who was entitled to enroll students, and the other three are Peking University, Nankai University and Wuhan University. At that time, the discipline of World History had a strong team of nearly 30 teachers, accounting for a third of the faculty of the Department of History. They were divided into 4 teaching and research departments and 1 reference room. The study of medieval history, German history, American history, Japanese history, Canadian history and history of sino-foreign relations are all in the forefront of similar studies in China.
In 2011, World History was upgraded from the second-level discipline to the first-level discipline. In the same year, the discipline of World History of Shandong University was authorized the first-level doctoral program, which was an important progress in discipline construction. Under the discipline of World History, there are two second-level disciplines, that is, World Ancient Medieval History and World Modern History, which have a profound academic accumulation in the research direction, such as Western Constitutional History, Regional and National History, Western History of Historiography and Historical Theory, and all of them has made remarkable research achievements.
In 2012, the Department of World History was established in Shandong University. The department has 8 teachers, including 2 professors, 4 associate professors and 2 lecturers. Most of them have overseas study and visiting experience and keep close contact with famous overseas scholars and academic institutions. Professor Gu Luanzhai (doctoral supervisor) is mainly engaged in the research of European medieval history, which has an important academic influence in the world. Professor Sun Yiping (doctoral supervisor) is mainly engaged in the study of French history and emotional history from the perspective of global history and transnational history. Associate professor Bai Xuefeng (master's supervisor) is devoted to the study of American history and the history of American political system. Associate professor Xie Yujun (master's supervisor) pay attention to the study of British history and western cultural history. Associate professor Wang Guangzhen (master's supervisor) is mainly engaged in the history of Russia and China-Russia relations. Associate professor Yang Guang (master's supervisor) is mainly engaged in the history of international relations, Asia-Pacific international relations and other studies. Dr. Sun Lifang is mainly engaged in the study of medieval European history, Byzantine history and culture.
The Department of World History has formed a complete student training system. At present, there is one undergraduate major, that is, World History. To adapt to the globalization trend in today's world and the Belt and Road initiative, the department attaches great importance to foster professional personnel with international view, profound humanistic quality and solid historical research skills following Shandong University’s mission “Reserve talents for the world, and seek prosperity for the nation”, so as to rich talent pool of historical research for China. In addition, graduates from World History can work in fields like education, foreign affairs, administration, journalism, editing and secretarial work. Statistics show that nearly 90 percent of college graduates go to famous universities at home and abroad for further study.
In recent years, the Department of World History has upgraded its student training model and attached great importance to practice. Students majored in World History have gone to Tianjin, Xi 'an, Shaanxi province, Kaifeng, Henan province and other places for practice and academic exchanges, forming a mature practice system with outstanding results.
