Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. As a key university in Shanghai city, it is a comprehensive local university with salient features of teacher training and a particular strength in liberal arts. Its main undertakings are undergraduate education with the chief aim of producing high level application-oriented talents.

Founded in 1954, SHNU was founded as Shanghai Teachers Training College. In 1956 it was expanded into two colleges: Shanghai No. 1 Teachers College and Shanghai No. 2 Teachers College. Two years later, the colleges were combined to form Shanghai Teachers College.

In 1972, it was merged into East China Normal University while the latter changed its name to Shanghai Normal University. In 1978 the Shanghai Teachers College was reestablished, and was renamed as Shanghai Teachers University in 1984. It combined with Shanghai Teachers College of Technology in October 1994 to form a new Shanghai Normal University.

From September 1997 to August 2003, SHNU successively took in the following units as its subordinates: Shanghai Teacher Training College, Department of Human Sanitation and Health of Huangling Teacher School, Shanghai Xingzhi Art School, and Shanghai Tourism Institute.

The university has 16 colleges and 81 research bodies. Other units in SHNU are, among others, Shanghai Teachers Training Center, Shanghai College Teachers Training Center, and the Editorial Department of Academic Abstracts of Liberal Arts of College Journals.