Overview of the Faculty of Foreign Studies
I. Sub-level Institutions
Six schools are established under the Faculty of Foreign Studies, namely, the School of English Studies, the School of Asian Languages and Cultures, the School of European Languages and Cultures, the School of Middle East Studies, the School of Translation and Interpreting, and the School of Applied Foreign Languages. There are two research institutes: the Institute of Translation and International Communication and the Institute of International Language Service. There are 5 research institutes: the Institute of Foreign Literature and Culture, the Institute of Theoretical Linguistics, the Institute of Foreign Language Education, the Institute of Translation, and the Institute of National and Regional Studies. There is also an Institute of Comparison of Language and Culture and 15 institutes for international and regional studies registered with the Ministry of Education. The School of Translation and Interpreting (STI) is a member of the Conférence Internationale Permanente D'instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes (CIUTI). The journal Translation and Communication and the English journal Translating China are affiliated with the Institute of Translation and International Communication. The Journal of International and Regional Studies is affiliated with the Institute of International and Regional Studies.
II. Majors
The Faculty of Foreign Studies is an awarding institution for graduate students and PhD candidates in Foreign Language and Literature and has a mobile station for postdocs in foreign languages. There are currently 17 programs for undergraduate students, covering 14 languages and majors, which are English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Indonesian, Romanian, and Business English. Five majors for multilingual learners are offered: English + Spanish, Japanese + English, Turkish + English, Romanian + French, and Indonesian + English. Students who major in translation have three paths to choose from: Chinese-English Translation, Chinese-French-English Translation, and Translation and Localization. Efforts are being made to offer a Persian Language Program and two areas of specialization, which are International Language Services and Legal English.
III. Teaching
The four majors of English, Japanese, French, and Arabic in the Faculty of Foreign Studies are rated as national specialties by the Ministry of Education. The majors of Translation, English, French, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean are rated as national first-class majors. German, Spanish, and Italian are first-class majors in Beijing. English Language and Literature and Japanese Language and Literature are key disciplines in Beijing. The teacher team for undergraduate students majoring in English is excellent in Beijing. The School of English Studies was awarded the title of "Excellent Team of Educational Innovation in Beijing". The School of Applied Foreign Languages won the first prize in Beijing Excellent Teaching Achievement. Several faculty members have won important awards in national and Beijing teaching competitions.
IV. Faculty
The Faculty of Foreign Studies currently has 164 full-time faculty members, including 34 professors (13 doctoral supervisors) and 42 associate professors. There are four distinguished chair professors: C. T. James Huang of Harvard University, Pan Haihua of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Wang Ning, Changjiang Scholar of Tsinghua University, and Wang Jihui of Peking University. There are four honorary professors: Noam Chomsky, founder of generative grammar, Claude Hagège of Collège de France, James B. Steinberg, former Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan and Zhai Jun, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and current special envoy on Middle East affairs. There are many visiting professors, including world-class language scholars such as Barbara Partee, former President of the Linguistic Society of America, and Ian Roberts, former President of the Societas Linguistica Europaea.
V. Characteristics of Education
The Faculty of Foreign Studies, with the fundamental mission of fostering virtue, makes full use of the resources provided by BLCU, the "mini UN", and cultivates international and interdisciplinary talent with advanced educational philosophy and modern technology. The Faculty of Foreign Studies has established nearly 70 cooperative exchange programs with universities in 17 countries and regions, covering 11 languages. Every year, more than 350 undergraduates go abroad to pursue studies via state-sponsored and inter-university exchange programs, and the percentage of students who go abroad for exchanges during a school term reaches 60%. Among Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish and Italian majors, 100% go abroad. Every year, more than 100 undergraduate students win awards in various national, provincial and ministerial-level academic competitions.
VI. Academic Exchanges
The Faculty of Foreign Studies attaches great importance to international academic exchanges, with over 200 academic lectures each year. Dozens of top linguists in the world, such as Chomsky, Lasnik, Chierchia, Rizzi, Hageg and Ian, have been invited to BLCU to engage in academic exchanges and give lectures on linguistics. The Faculty of Foreign Studies has hosted many major international academic conferences, including the 8th International Conference of Generative Linguistics in the Old World, where Chomsky was the keynote speaker, and the Forum for Presidents of Chinese and Foreign Language Universities. The discipline of foreign languages at BLCU has a large influence on the international academic community.
VII. Employment
The Faculty of Foreign Studies has more than 1,800 undergraduate students and 800 graduate students enrolled. The career paths of graduates include working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other state ministries, as well as foreign and state-owned enterprises and educational and research institutions. They are mainly engaged in work related to diplomacy, foreign affairs, foreign trade, Chinese and foreign cultural exchange, language education and services, as well as finance and economics. The employment rate of English graduates reaches 99%. The employment rate of graduates of Arabic, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French majors all reaches 100%. The employment rate of graduates majoring in other languages reaches 98%. Our translation program has outstanding features and provides good job prospects for students, with an employment rate close to 100%.
VIII. Future Development
In order to achieve Beijing Language and Culture University's goal of "building a world-class language university with Chinese characteristics", the Faculty of Foreign Studies, guided by the principle of seeking "disciplinary innovation and transformation and development", will strive to achieve the integration of various disciplines to cultivate international and interdisciplinary talent who can serve society and advance national strategies. In response to the needs of society and careers in the context of internationalization, the Faculty of Foreign Studies offers majors in which students can learn both foreign languages and other skills. At present, it has cooperated with Nottingham Trent University in the UK to establish China's first international cooperation program approved by the Ministry of Education for a double master's degree in "Foreign Language and Cultural Heritage Development".
