The Academy of Marxism of Shanxi University was jointly established by SXU and the Publicity Department of Shanxi Provincial Party Committee. It is the only one in Shanxi province that has the right to confer doctorates in the first level discipline of Marxism theory.

The Academy of Marxism of SXU has a long history. In 1926, the Academy set up the first Party branch of the Communist Party of China to publicize the Party’s propositions and to spread Marxism. Shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, SXU set up teaching and research offices on the history of China’s revolution and on Marxism-Leninism and political economics, to teach Marxism. It invited provincial and leading municipal cadres to compile reports and prepare learning reports on political theory for teachers and students. In 1959, the Department of Politics was established to recruit undergraduates majoring in philosophy, the history of Party and economics. It trained a large number of Marxist theoretical talent and political workers for Shanxi province.

Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, SXU has further strengthened the research and education of Marxism. In 1987, on the basis of the original teaching and research offices for Marxism and Moral Education, the Department of Political Science was established. It was responsible for SXU’s Marxism-Leninism general courses and moral education and began to enroll undergraduates majoring in an “Ideological and Political Education” program. SXU is one of the universities that set up an undergraduate major in "Ideological and Political Education" earlier in China.

In 1994, SXU established the Teaching and Research Department of Political and Ideological Theory, which mainly undertakes the teaching of political theory and ideological and moral general courses. In 2003, the school merged with the Department of Political Science with the Teaching and Research Department of Political and Ideological Theory and established the School of Political Science and Public Administration. In 2009, in order to further integrate resources and strengthen the development of Marxism disciplines and ideological and political theory, the Academy of Marxism was established. In 2014, it became an independent secondary institution directly under the university's management and in 2015, the Publicity Department of the Shanxi provincial Party Committee began to jointly construct the Academy of Marxism with SXU. In the history of SXU, for nearly one hundred years a large number of Marxism theorists and educationalists have sprung up for the research and publicizing of Marxist theory, creating a tradition and body of knowledge that the university attaches great importance to the education and research of Marxism.

The Academy of Marxism has five offices and one center. Of these, the five teaching and research offices offer majors in the "basic principles of Marxism", "Mao Zedong Thought and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics", "ideological and moral education and legal basis", an "outline of modern Chinese history" and "situation and policy". They are mainly responsible for the teaching and research tasks of five ideological and political theory courses; the new media teaching research and practice center is mainly responsible for the application of modern means to reform ideological and political theory course education and teaching -- as well as the construction of the Academy’s website and WeChat platform. The Academy has continuously strengthened the construction of its groups of teachers and has formed a group of highly qualified, experienced and dedicated teachers. Among them, there is one expert in the national Marxism theoretical research and construction project group, one national ideological and political teaching expert, three teachers who are included in the national funding program for the selection of the best candidates for ideological and political courses, and one theoretical talent of the Shanxi “four-level talent system”. At the same time, there are three provincial-level teaching masters, one provincial-level academic and technical leader, and one of the provincial-level “131 talent program”. The Academy has 2,400 square meters of independent office space and classrooms, a library and reading room with more than 26,000 books, over 90 sets of audios and video materials, as well as 100 periodicals. The Academy has been fully equipped with various teaching equipment, office facilities and other hardware facilities.

SXU’s Party committee and administrative departments attach great importance to the construction and development of the Academy of Marxism, and have a deputy secretary in charge of the Academy. Over the years, the Academy has always adhered to the concept of "developing Marxism discipline with the full strength of the university", made full use of the advantages of SXU with a complete range of disciplines and a strong research force in humanities and social sciences, encouraged the interdisciplinary integration, and formed a collaborative advantage in the education and teaching of Marxism theoretical research and ideological and political theory.