The Department of Statistics at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics was established in 1946, making it one of the earliest departments at the university. From the very beginning, it gathered a group of renowned professors, including Zou Yiren, Xue Zhongsan, Chu Fengyi, Jin Guobao, Zhu Junyi, Zhao Zhangfu, and Chen Shanlin, who laid a solid foundation for the discipline. After the resumption of classes in 1978, the statistics discipline rapidly developed under the careful nurturing and diligent efforts of many professors, including Chen Shanlin, Zheng Deru, Jia Hongyu, Hu Guohua, Ma Jiashan, Tian Jinghe, Huang Shuyan, and Zheng Jusheng, cultivating a large number of statistical talents for the development of the country and society, and giving rise to a group of prestigious statistical experts and high-level economic management personnel.

In recent years, the School of Statistics and Data Science has made significant progress in discipline development. In 2011, it was selected for the Shanghai Municipal Higher Education First-Class Discipline (Category B) Construction Plan; in 2012, it ranked 4th nationwide in the Ministry of Education's first-level discipline assessment, and in the same year was approved to establish a postdoctoral research station for the first-level discipline of Statistics; in 2013, it was selected for the Shanghai Municipal Higher Education First-Class Discipline (Category A) Construction Plan; in 2015, it ranked first in the national evaluation of applied statistics master's programs; in 2017, the Statistics discipline was selected for the world-class discipline construction list and ranked in the A series of the fourth round of the Ministry of Education's first-level discipline assessment; in the 2017 ShanghaiRanking's World University Rankings by Subject, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics ranked second in Statistics nationwide and entered the top hundred globally.

The school currently has 59 full-time teachers, all of whom hold doctoral degrees, including 29 who obtained their doctoral degrees abroad. Among them, there are 18 with senior professional titles, 21 with associate senior titles, and 20 with intermediate titles. The average age of the teachers is 40.4 years. In addition, there are 4 adjunct professors.

The School of Statistics and Data Science focuses on providing students with a better training platform. Currently, the school has established close cooperation with the National Bureau of Statistics, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Orient Securities Co., Ltd., Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Beijing Co., Ltd., Systech Software Co., Ltd., Gowo Information Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Juyuan Ruisi Data Technology Co., Ltd., Nielsen Company, and others. Among them, the practice base co-built with Orient Securities Co., Ltd. has been approved by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission as a model practice base. The establishment of various cooperation platforms provides excellent industry part-time mentor resources and rich internship positions for talent cultivation in the school.