SIVA was established in September 2005 with the approval of the Ministry of Education.

SIVA shares teaching and living resources with Songjiang University Town for faculty and students.

State-owned funds account for over 90% of the total investment SIVA has received; the rest comes from social groups.

SIVA provides a teaching model focused upon professor studios and offers a complete credit system.

Guest lecturers and professors include actor Jackie Chan, fresco artist Rainer Maria Latzke, Beowulf and Spider-Man movie animator Sing-Chong Foo, Japanese manga artist Makoto Ogino, the creator of the “Peacock King”, and painters Carlos Morell Orlandis and Piers Maxwell Dudley-Bateman.