Since 1978, liberal arts have been regained in Southeast University. In 1992, School of Humanities and Social Sciences was established, which has been renamed School of Humanities since 2002, originally including 8 departments, i.e. Department of Philosophy and Science, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Chinese Department, Department of Law, Department of Tourism, Department of Medical Humanities and Arts Department of Arts Communication, and Department of Fine Arts (relatively independent), with 8 undergraduate majors, i.e. political science and public administration, Chinese language and literature, tourist administration, law, industrial art and design, fine arts, sociology, and animation. In September 2006, Department of Law, Department of Fine Arts, and Department of Art Communication were separated from the school, and the School of Law and School of Fine Arts were correspondingly set up. In May 2009, under the approval of the School of Humanities, Department of Sociology was officially set up in the school. In June 2011, Department of Politics and Public Administration was separated into School of Marxism.

The School of Humanities now offers Department of Philosophy and Sciences, Department of Public Administration, Chinese Department, Department of Tourism, Department of Medical Humanities, Department of Sociology, and MPA Center, with five undergraduate majors including political science and public administration, Chinese language and literature, tourist administration, sociology, and philosophy. Meanwhile, School of Humanities undertakes the teaching of public courses of political theory and optional courses of humanities for all the postgraduate students, and has opened nearly 100 optional courses of humanities and social sciences for all students.

The school offers first-level discipline doctor station of philosophy, 5 first-level discipline master stations of philosophy, sociology, psychology, Chinese language and literature, and public administration, as well as 2 professional degree stations of Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Tourist Administration (MTA).

Now the School of Humanities has post-doctoral research centers of the philosophy discipline, Ethics & Art of Science and Technology - national 985 Innovation Base of Philosophy and Social Sciences, and provincial key disciplines of Ethics.

The school owns a group of young teachers with high-level educational background and sound qualities. Among the full-time teachers, 61% of whom are under the age of 45, 89% of them have doctoral degrees, 64% with professor or associate professor titles, with 14 doctoral tutors.

The school has perfect teaching resources as well as teaching environment. Located at the bank of Jiulonghu Lake in the new campus, the Building of Arts is facilitated with a series of comprehensive facilities for teaching and activities such as the library, academic halls, senior international academic activity rooms, experiment center of liberal arts, language labs, thesis defense room with instant real broadcast, file rooms, sports training centers, etc. Covering an area of nearly 1,000 square meters, the school library offers over 60,000 volumes of books.

Attaching great importance to personnel fostering, the school has carried out two great discussions on education reform for a unity of thinking in educational philosophy and thought, faculty development, curriculum reform, enrollment adjustment, and educational management, establishing the direction of educational reform. Focus is also laid on the basic education of disciplines and platform course teaching. The school pays attention to the improvement of students’ comprehensive qualities and innovation ability. In the National University Students Challenge Cup Contest, students from the School of Humanities have won successively the top award, gold award and the first prize. Over 1,000 department-level or division-level leaders have conducted systematic study and training at the school for more than 2 years under the delegation of the Party and Government. Large numbers of graduates have become senior experts and leaders in national political, economic, educational and academic fields.

The school has achieved fruitful results in scientific research. In support of the national 985 Project, the school has established Ethics & Art of Science and Technology - a Philosophy and Social Sciences Innovation Base. The school also undertakes over 100 projects of National Social Science Fund, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and provincial research projects, granted more than 10 million yuan funded by 211 Project and 985 Project. In recent 5 years, the school has published more than 100 academic works and teaching materials, as well as over 1,000 papers, with its scientific research awarding the National Social Science Award and the provincial and ministerial awards for several times. In addition, the school has made extensive cooperation and academic exchanges with the universities and arts & cultural sectors of the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, Korea, Japan, Russia and other countries as well as regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.