The school's disciplines cover art, education, engineering, management, law, literature, science and other fields. Among them, the subject of education is the characteristic subject of the school and one of the dominant subjects of the school. In addition, it is also a national first-class undergraduate discipline construction point, a key discipline in Shanghai, and a first-class discipline authorized by doctoral degree. The school's engineering, management, law and literature disciplines also have certain influence and advantages in their respective fields. In addition, the school's online education college is also the national online education and teaching demonstration center.
In addition to undergraduate education, Shanghai Open University also offers postgraduate education such as master's degree and doctor's degree, and has a number of key research institutes and research centers such as Institute of Educational Science, Institute of Vocational Education, Institute of Higher Education, Key Research Center of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Research Center of Educational Informatization. The school also actively promotes international education and has established long-term cooperative relations with 16 universities in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other countries or regions. In addition, the school has also carried out extensive exchanges and cooperation with universities and international organizations in more than 20 countries and regions at home and abroad.
In a word, Shanghai Open University is an adult higher education institution with rich history, perfect disciplines, high level of teachers and large scale, which provides high-quality educational resources and a good learning environment for the majority of adult students and is one of the important forces in the field of adult higher education in Shanghai and even the whole country.