Beijing Foreign Studies University (BSFU), the first university in China to specialise in foreign languages, held an international education forum in Beijing at the end of last month to mark the opening a new School of International Education specialising in foundation courses to prepare Chinese students to go abroad.
Having successfully run one-year foundation programmes in English language and preparation for study abroad for the last five years under BFSU and its publishing arm Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), the university has decided to create its own school due to demand.
The school will share a collaborative learning platform that BFSU has established with over 400 universities and organisations in 72 countries
The school will share a collaborative learning platform that BFSU has established with over 400 universities and organisations in 72 countries and has already transferred 5000 currently enrolled students to its new premises.
Dean of the School of International Education Cao Wen said: “Our goal is to construct a collaboration platform within and beyond the walls of the university to share the concept and practice of internalisation of BFSU.”
Wen explained that the school will also cooperate with governments, organisations, and enterprises to provide English training to their employees.
Steven Miller, Cambridge English Language Assessment Regional Director was a speaker at the event which attracted over 100 delegates and told The PIE News the new school is “a timely response to the national and public growing need of international education.”
“It’s clear that the bridges built between international departments such as this one and institutions in other countries increase access to educational opportunities for students looking to study outside of their home country,” said Miller.
“I have first-hand experience of this as many of these institutions make use of Cambridge English tests to ensure that incoming students possess sufficient language skills to cope with the demands of their courses,” he added.
Miller believes that BFSU’s existing ties with the University of Cambridge and use of the Cambridge English Language Assessment tests will provide a strong platform for the new school to build partnerships with overseas institutions.
BFSU is directly managed by Chinese Ministry of Education and also serves as a training centre for foreign language personnel, namely senior interpreters and translators, as well as publishing its own academic resources.
The university has been dubbed the “cradle of diplomats” as over 400 of its alumni have gone on to become ambassadors.
