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About Beijing International Studies University

Beijing International Studies University (BISU) is a renowned institution of higher education of multi-disciplines, offering subjects and courses of literature, management, economics, and law, with the foreign languages and literature as its dominant discipline and tourism management as its specialized discipline. It is an important base in China for the teaching and research of foreign languages, translation, tourism, and economics and foreign trade.

BISU, founded in 1964 with the support of China’s late premier Zhou Enlai, was one of China’s first few institutions that offered undergraduate education in foreign languages. In its history, BISU was once under the successive leaderships of China International Cultural Liaison Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Ministry of Education and China National Tourism Administration. Today, BISU is sponsored by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.

With “Integrity, Diligence, Truth, and Leadership” as its motto, BISU has long dedicated itself to passing down eastern and western civilizations and cultural and educational exchanges between China and other countries. Students are inspired to learn from both civilizations and achieve the unity of knowing and doing, while its exceptional faculty is committed to offering students education in the spirit of humanities education. BISU has accumulated profound academic tradition and distinctive experience in teaching, and had a strong faculty, including a group of recognized professors and famous translators in China.

BISU is located in Chaoyang District, Beijing, with The Central Business District (CBD) on its west and Tongzhou District, the subsidiary administrative center of Beijing, on its east. At present, BISU has nearly 10,000 registered students, including 6,200 undergraduate students, 1,300 graduate students, 700 international students and 1,000 students under a seven-year cultivation program. It is organized into 17 academic units, namely School of English Language, Literature and Culture, School of Japanese Language, Literature and Culture, School of Asian Studies, School of European Languages, Literature and Culture, School of Middle Eastern Studies, School of Interpreting and Translation, School of Tourism and Hospitality, Business School, School of Economics, School of International Relations, School of Chinese Culture and Communication, School of International Education of Chinese Language, School of Marxism Studies, Department of Physical Education, Department of Basic Sciences, BISU Seven-year Comprehensive Training Program, and BISU Institute of Châteauroux. The school library has collections of over 1,170,000 volumes, 200 foreign-language newspapers, and 850 Chinese Newspapers. There are more than 1,080,000 copies of e-books. The library has 42 Chinese databases, 61 foreign language databases and two databases established by itself.

At present, BISU offers 44 undergraduate majors (including 26 Bachelor’s programs in modern foreign languages). Five primary disciplines and 28 secondary disciplines have been authorized to confer Master’s degrees. It also offers six professional Master’s degree programs. BISU has a Joint Doctoral Program in translation with Binghamton University-the State University of New York, a Joint Doctoral Program in tourism management with University of South Carolina, Columbia, and two post-doctoral research stations (co-founded with Social Sciences Academic Press and with Capital University of Economics and Business). It has one municipal first-rate major (Translation) and four municipal key disciplines (Foreign Language and Literature, Tourism Management, Business Management, International Trade) of Beijing, four national characteristic majors (Japanese, Arabic Language, English, Tourism Management), and one pilot reform major of Ministry of Education (Japanese).

To serve the country and Beijing through building up new-type think tanks, the University aims to achieve excellence in research and ensure that its research contributes to the well-being of society. BISU is home to 13 research institutions, namely China Institute of Culture and Tourism Industry, China Academy for Tourism Talent Development, Big Data Institute of Culture and Tourism Research, China Academy of Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing Institute of Culture and Tourism Development, Beijing Institute of Intercultural Communication, China-Arab States Research Center on Reform and Development, Beijing Institute for International Communication, Institute of Chinese Studies, Institute of Political Education Studies, Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, Digital Resource and Information Service Center, and BISU Academic Journals. A platform of fundamental research has been built through six scientific research bases at the provincial and ministerial level, one collaborative innovation center at the provincial and ministerial level and seven Ministry of Education’s National and Regional Studies Centers. The academic journals include Journal of Beijing International Studies University, Tourism and Hospitality Prospects, Transcultural Studies and Journal of Chinese Economics. In recent years, its research funds have been growing at an annual rate of 30%, and the quality and quantity of research output have been significantly improving.

BISU is dedicated to produce high-level, practical talents with an international vision and a spirit of interdisciplinary exploration. It offers excellent undergraduate and graduate instruction that is supported by three pillars. The first one is traditional Chinese culture. BISU is committed to the cultivation in students of a strong sense of national identity by integrating traditional Chinese culture into the whole process of education. The second pillar is its diversity and global vision. BISU seeks to provide its students with an education that takes a worldwide perspective with the support of an inclusive campus community. It offers numerous opportunities for students to learn from and incorporate international perspectives and experiences throughout their academic careers. The third pillar is BISU’s commitment to the interweaving of fundamental knowledge and practical education and an emphasis on practice so that its graduates use knowledge to benefit the world. BISU is proud of its graduates with creativity, broad horizons, solid knowledge of their fields and solid practical skills, and competitiveness in the job market.

The school faculty is well-structured in terms of the faculty members’ ages, degrees, specialties and professional titles. The University now has nearly 1,000 full-time teachers, 50% are Ph.D. holders and more than 60% are professors or associate professors. Most of the faculty members had overseas learning experiences or obtained their academic degrees abroad. BISU also employs 120 part-time professors and more than 50 foreign experts. BISU is proud of having two “National Outstanding Teaching Teams”, four “Excellent Teaching Teams of Beijing”, and eight “Innovative Academic Teams of Beijing”.

BISU attaches great importance to international exchange and collaboration. By now, the University has established substantial collaborative relations with more than 170 universities or educational institutions in more than 40 countries. Each year, a considerable number of teachers are sent abroad for further study, joint research projects, or Mandarin teaching. Every year an average of over 500 students go abroad to further their study, while more than 1500 foreign students come to BISU. Six Confucius Institutes have been established, in partnership with the Autonomous University of Chihuahua in México, the University of Central Lancashire in Britain, Université Mohammed V in Morocco, the French city Clermont-Ferrand, the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the University of Panama in the Republic of Panama. Besides, more Confucius Institutes are expected to be established in collaboration with universities of countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, including the University of Warsaw in Poland.

The following goal is set at the University’s Eighth CPC Congress:

To build BISU into a teaching-research oriented, internationalized, innovative and application-typed university, BISU determines two programs as key disciplines: Foreign Languages & Literature and Tourism Management, offers students a broad, interdisciplinary education with an international perspective, and educates qualified graduates working for the development of the Capital and inter-cultural exchange affairs. BISU’s initial goal is to become a first-rate foreign studies university with global influence in China by 2022.

By 2035, with the established educational system of internationalization that serves the country’s modernization and the cultivation of application-typed, high-end and composite talents, BISU will have established a research system characterized by its special function to serve the country’s strategy and the Capital’s tasks. With its key disciplines listed as the country’s first-rate programs, BISU will be built into China’s top world-recognized modern foreign language university.