The School of Foreign Studies grew out of the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Section of the Basic Courses Department. Renamed Foreign Languages Department on December 28, 1998, it became independent and began to recruit English majors in April 2002. In 2008, the Department offered another major for new recruits, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. In April 2009, the Department was renamed School of Foreign Studies. The School began to offer the major of Russian in 2011 and the program of English for a second bachelor’s degree in 2013.
At present, the School offers B.A. programs in English, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and Russian. The university-wide language courses include English, Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish and Korean.
The School of Foreign Studies consists of five teaching and research sections: English, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Minor Languages, Public English No.1 and Public English No.2. It also has 3 offices for administration, teaching and students affairs in addition to a language lab office and a foreign language training center.In addition, the School has 5 academic research centers, exploring foreign literature, translation, comparative literature, linguistics and cross-cultural studies.
The School has a staff of over 100 members, most of whom are masters or doctoral degree owners, including more than 30 professors and associate professors. Presently, the school has about 600 full time undergraduates who are expected to work in the fields of foreign affairs, education, science and technology, trade, culture and so on after graduation.
Set up in 2000, the Foreign Language Training Center is an authorized testing center for PETS, National Business English Translation Examination, National Business Secretary Examination.
Currently, with the motto “To root in the earth of foreign languages and to blossom in business and engineering”, the School of Foreign Studies is marching on its way to a School of multi-language teaching with distinctive characteristics.