The Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) is a top university specialized in finance, economics, and business. It is known for its entrepreneurial character and unremitting endeavors to address the needs of the people and society through academics, research, and influence on alumni, drawn from the legacy of its founders and generations of excellent alumni.

SWUFE is located in Chengdu, the engine-city for the development of Western China and the fourth-largest aviation hub in China.

The university traces its origin back to the year of 1925, when a group of students and academics from St. John's University in Shanghai, led by the prominent scholar Zhang Shouyong, left the school and founded the Kwang Hua University (Guanghua University) in Shanghai. In 1938, following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the university relocated its headquarters to Chengdu. This move was mirrored by other major universities in the east of China who relocated their operations to Western China during that time. In 1946, the Chengdu branch of Kwang Hua University formed an independent private university called Chenghua University.

After 1952, the university became a public school and was renamed and restructured several times until it received its current name, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), in 1985. In 1995, SWUFE became a Project 211 University, in 2011, SWUFE was listed as 985 Innovative Platform for Key Disciplines Project University.

The university has 28 schools, colleges, and institutes with 35 undergraduate majors. SWUFE has approximately 21,140 students of which are 14,700 registered full-time undergraduate students. SWUFE is one of the earliest universities to offers graduate programs following the education reforms in the 1970s. The university has around 8,000 graduate students, of which there are roundabout 5,700 Master degree candidates and 740 doctoral degree candidates. SWUFE currently has around 515 international students and 170,000+ alumni.

The university employs 1355 faculty members of which are approximately 300 professors, 530 associate professors, and 310 doctor supervisors. SWUFE was the first institution authorized to grant MBA and CPA credentials in Southwestern China. It offers 4 national key second-rate disciplines and 4 post-doctoral research centers. Marketing, Economics, Finance, Financial Management, Statistics, Insurance, law, Human Resource Management at SWUFE are in the national ranking marked feature majors.