The Department of Mathematics at Shantou University is one of the earliest academic departments established at the university. It began enrolling undergraduate students in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in 1984, was approved to enroll master's students in Applied Mathematics in 1993, and was approved to enroll master's students in Pure Mathematics in 2000. In 2003, it was approved to enroll doctoral students in Pure Mathematics, and in 2018, it was approved to enroll doctoral students in the first-level discipline of Mathematics. It currently offers two undergraduate majors: Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, and Statistics. The undergraduate major in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics was selected in 2019 into the first batch of National First-Class Undergraduate Major Construction Points, and the undergraduate major in Statistics was selected in 2021 as a Guangdong Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Major Construction Point. In 2024, the Mathematics and Applied Mathematics major was selected among the first batch of supported majors under Guangdong Province's "Changji Plan" (Long-term Basic Discipline Plan) for basic disciplines, and Shantou University's Innovation Experimental Zone for Cultivating Top-notch Mathematics Talents was selected as a 2024 Guangdong Provincial Innovation Experimental Zone for Cultivating Top-notch Talents in Basic Disciplines. In 2024, the Laboratory of Frontier Mathematics and Large Model Computing was approved as a Key Laboratory of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions (Natural Science).
The development of the mathematics discipline at Shantou University has consistently received great attention and strong support from the university and the Li Ka Shing Foundation, as well as generous support from all sectors of society, especially from colleagues in the mathematics community. In the early years of the university, several key universities assigned outstanding teachers to the Department of Mathematics, supporting the initial development of the discipline. In 1993, the Institute of Mathematics of Shantou University was established, becoming one of the few mathematics research institutes in Chinese universities at that time, with Academician Wang Zikun serving as its director. In 1995, the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digital Image Processing Technology was established in the Department of Mathematics, with Academician Shi Zhongci serving as its director. A group of renowned mathematicians, including Academician Wang Zikun, Academician Lu Qikeng, Academician Ding Xiaqi, Academician Shi Zhongci, and Professor Mai Jiehua, worked at the Institute of Mathematics for many years, laying a solid foundation for the development of the mathematics discipline and making historic and outstanding contributions.
The mathematics discipline was a key construction discipline of the "211 Project" in Guangdong Province during the Ninth and Tenth Five-Year Plans. In 2007, it became an eighth-round Guangdong Provincial Key Discipline; in 2012, it became a ninth-round Guangdong Provincial Climbing-Peak Key Discipline; in 2014, it was approved to establish a postdoctoral research station in mathematics; and since 2018, it has remained a key discipline in Guangdong Province's High-Level University Construction.
The mathematics discipline has a capable and competitive faculty and has fostered a harmonious, academically active, and thriving environment. All members of the discipline hold doctoral degrees. In recent years, the Department of Mathematics has added more than 30 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and several faculty members have received funding from programs such as the National Key R&D Program of China, the Key International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Excellent Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Pearl River Talent Plan for Introducing High-Level Talents, the Yangfan Plan for Cultivating High-Level Talents, the Guangdong Provincial Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and the New Century Excellent Talents in University Support Program. Over the past five years, more than 300 papers have been published in domestic and international academic journals such as Amer. J. Math., Adv. Math., Math. Ann., Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., SIAM J. Numer. Anal., and Science China Mathematics. Among current faculty members, a number of outstanding teachers have emerged, including recipients of honors such as "National Model Teacher," "Leading Figure in the 2020 Smart City Pioneer List," "Guangdong Provincial Higher Education Teaching Master," "Guangdong Provincial May 1st Labor Medal," "Nanyue Outstanding Teacher," "Outstanding Instructor of the National Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling," and the "Li Ka Shing Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence."
Looking ahead, the mathematics discipline at Shantou University will, by building a high-level faculty, actively participate in research on major theoretical and applied issues at the national and local levels, strive to obtain a number of important original research results, develop its own distinctive characteristics, and join the advanced ranks of mathematics disciplines at similar universities nationwide.