In early June 2021, the research group "Experience Summary and Path Research on strengthening Political and Moral Education of Cadres" led by Professor Kong Xinfeng, Vice Dean of Institute of State Governance, Shandong University and Vice Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration (SPSPA), was publicly declared and anonymously evaluated. The Shandong Federation of Social Sciences has identified it as a major research and consulting project of Shandong Provincial Social Science Think Tank in 2021.

After systematically reviewing the pioneering practice and rich experience of political and moral education of cadres in Shandong Province in the past five years, Professor Kong Xinfeng's research group put forward "three basic hypotheses of the specific effectiveness and corresponding mechanism of political and moral education of cadres". They sort out some core problems in the effectiveness and pertinence of cadre education, supplemented by in-depth investigation of administrative agencies, educational institutions and trained groups at all levels in China, to explore ways to strengthen and improve cadre education and build a relevant series of think tank salon platforms, presenting high-level, high-quality applicable countermeasures.

As a new university think tank jointly built by the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council and Shandong University, the Institute of State Governance will take this major project as an opportunity to root in and serve for Shandong Province to make supposed contributions for the development of its economy and sociality and the construction of a new social science think tank.