The School of Continuing Education of Beijing Language and Culture University was founded in June 2013, developed out of the "Beijing Russian Language Specialized College (Second Branch)" (or "Preparatory School for Further Studies in the Soviet Union (under the Ministry of Education)" established in 1952). It was hoped that its founding could satisfy the society's training demands and help the university to grow and expand. Since its establishment, the school has been responsible for various trainings, examinations and study abroad services of Beijing Language and Culture University in the Pre-departure Training Department, the Overseas Test Center, the HSK Center, the Teachers Training School, the Continuing Education School, the Study Abroad Service Center, and the International Teaching Center. The Study Abroad Training College under the Ministry of Education and the university's Teachers Training School are also included.
The School of Continuing Education is located in Beijing Language and Culture University, 15 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing. The School of Continuing Education at BLCU (known as a "mini UN") enjoys a beautiful campus, comfortable accommodation, a strong academic atmosphere and a unique language environment. The School of Continuing Education inherits the university's outstanding cultural deposits and educational philosophy, which, in a nutshell, is "study widely and firmly, cultivate words and deeds". With its first-class teacher team, rich teaching experience, advanced facilities, personalized teaching models and humanized accommodation and services, the School of Continuing Education trains nearly 6,000 excellent graduates every year and has been widely praised and recognized by society.
The school's first-class teacher team advances the school's "high level, high quality, and high efficiency" development. It has more than 300 Chinese teachers and 50 foreign teachers. Nearly 100 of them are full-time teachers, 20% of them are associate professors or above, 95% of them have a master's degree or above, and more than 95% of them have studied abroad. Thanks to the hard work of former educators, the school now has a vast number of excellent personnel with solid teaching skills and a sophisticated educational philosophy, including Professor Zhao Xiuying, recipient of "Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic"; Associate Professor Qiao Chengwei, recipient of "Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms"; Professor Xu Caide, winner of the "ETS Achievement Award"; Professor Sun Bingri and Associate Professor Li Yabin, who were bestowed the "Model Worker" award by the city of Beijing.
Study abroad training is a key strength of the School of Continuing Education. As a widely recognized study abroad training unit in China, the school provides trainings for government-sponsored study abroad, overseas examinations and preparatory courses of foreign universities. The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China has authorized its right to provide language training for government-sponsored study abroad in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean and many other languages. With many years of teaching experience, the school has accumulated rich experience in short-term intensive foreign language teaching and has trained nearly 200,000 excellent overseas students. Its outstanding alumni include Li Tieying, former vice chairman of National People's Congress; Song Jian and Li Guixian, former vice chairmen of National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Zhu Yanfeng, deputy secretary of Jilin Provincial Committee; Liu Daoyu, former president of Wuhan University; Shan Ping, former president of Tianjin University; Zheng Shiling, Shi Guangyu, Lu Qiang and Guo Aike, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chen Zuohuang, music director of the National Center for the Performing Arts; and Miss Yao Hong, stage actor of the China National Opera House. Furthermore, the school upholds the educational philosophy of combining "study plus skill" and continues to develop courses for preparatory language training of foreign universities and overseas examinations like "IELTS", "PETS-5", "TOEFL" and "SAT" that can satisfy the needs of all kinds of learners.
In recent years, the school has paid much attention to the needs of enterprises, public institutions, and social groups. It trains students to deal with real life situations using foreign languages and enhances their overall abilities. It has provided foreign language training for many institutions, including the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China, the National Bureau of Statistics, the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the China PLA General Political Department, National Defense University, Agricultural Bank of China, China Gezhouba Corporation, China Railway Construction Group, CSR Group, Xinjiang Education Department, Wuhan University, Beijing Sports University, Logistics College of CPLA, the Foreign Aid Medical Team of Ministry of Health, Henan People's Hospital, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and FESCO.
Chinese teacher training and Chinese cultural experience is another key component of the School of Continuing Education. The school is the only Chinese teacher training unit in China approved by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Relying on the unique advantages of BLCU's international Chinese education program, it has developed a series of high-quality programs such as the "Harvard-Beijing Academy", "Summer Camp for Overseas Chinese Teachers", "Youth Study Tour Experience", "Theme-based Oral Training", and "Professional Chinese Tutoring ", as well as several sets of targeted and practical lecture notes and teaching syllabuses to fulfill the training needs of overseas Chinese teachers and cultural experience needs of international students and Chinese living abroad. Additionally, it helps to build other Chinese teaching units and training bases at home and abroad.
The school is rich in foreign language courses. The multilingual trainings and social group trainings have gained a strong reputation. The top three types of courses are minority language courses, youth English courses and customized courses for enterprises and public institutions. The school's second foreign language courses and "multilingual proficiency certificate" are gradually being recognized by other universities. The courses guarantee a student's learning experience and efficiency by adopting a new media teaching model, which combines online teaching with in-person teaching and courseware. Extracurriciular activites such as foreign language corner, cultural lectures and foreign teacher exchange activities are very popular among students. These courses have helped the university to build its "foreign language training" brand.
For its all-round development, the school has set up adult education courses for academic credentials. In recent years, it has developed a new way of continuing education through constant practice and exploration. A new training model of "diploma/academic certificate/professional certification" has been implemented, and it has greatly improved student's employability and the school's social recognition. The School has also set up multidisciplinary majors that combine major training and foreign language training. It has developed courses and teaching materials that match with these compound majors. The school has strict control on teaching quality and thus has greatly increased the graduation rate and the pass rate for TEM4, TEM8 exams. It broadens students' employment prospects and is favored by many large enterprises.
Exam organization is one of the school's strong areas (including language exams and exams for enterprises and public institutions). As one of the first language examination flagship units authorized by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, the School of Continuing Education organizes many domestic and international examinations such as IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, ACCA, TSE, WSK, PETS-5, NAETI, J-TEST, JPT, OK-TEST, DELF-DALF, HSK, MHK, etc. Over the years, it has become one of the best and largest test centers in China. After organizing the Beijing Language and Culture University HSK computer network examinations and many other exams for enterprises and public institutions such as the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Export-Import Bank of China, the China-Africa Development Fund, Procter & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard, the school has formed a multi-modal and comprehensive exam service system that serves both national and institutional exams; both foreign language and Chinese exams; and both paper-based and network exams.
Another strong suit of the School of Continuing Education is the study abroad service, which also contributes to its overall development. Over the years, the school has established close ties with dozens of embassies in China and hundreds of overseas institutions of higher education. It enjoys an excellent reputation in the industry and with the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange of the Ministry of Education. With the concept of "excellent overseas colleges and equally excellent Chinese students", the school offers one-stop service ranging from training and preparatory courses to study abroad. It has helped approximately 10,000 students to realize their study abroad dreams.
The School of Continuing Education values quality, runs high-end projects, organizes foreign language and Chinese trainings and exams, and cooperates extensively. It is determined to develop high quality efficiently, and aims to form a pattern that combines training, examination and study abroad service all together.
