Message from the Dean

Dear students, parents and friends, welcome and thank you for visiting the website of the School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB)!

USTB is one of the most influential national key universities directly under the Ministry of Education. It was in the first group of universities to be chosen to be part of China’s “211 Project” in 1997, and was selected as one of the few pilot universities for the “Platform for National Advanced Disciplines Innovation” program in 2006. In 2014, USTB was admitted into the "2011 Program".

The School of Foreign Studies (SFS) is an important part of USTB. Its main commitment is foreign language professional training and public foreign language teaching. SFS is small in size, but can be characterized by one word: ‘refined’. Firstly this can be reflected by its sound discipline system. USTB was one of the earliest universities in China (Mainland) engaged in providing English majors at graduate level. After the unremitting efforts of several generations, the SFS now has the right to confer Tier 1 doctoral degrees in Foreign Language and Literature, and also boasts a comprehensive discipline system from undergraduate to doctoral level degrees in foreign language. The teaching quality, academic research capacity and talents training at the SFS has an excellent reputation in China.

Secondly, the SFS is blessed with excellent faculty in teaching and research, a group of professors with profound academic ability, and teachers with impressive teaching achievements. What’s more, in order to further enrich the faculty, the SFS has hired 16 linguists, writers and educators who have had significant influence both at home and abroad as our guests or part-time professors. In addition, up to December 2015, the SFS had also hired 12 foreign experts teaching English, Japanese and German. One of the major features of talent training at the SFS is the integration of high-standard international cooperation and the coordination in teaching among teachers from China and abroad.

Thirdly, the SFS boasts an excellent environment for both teaching and learning. It has a first-class teaching environment and is well resourced, possessing modern digital language laboratories, simultaneous interpretation laboratories, an electronic media reading room, a foreign language self-learning center and a books and journals center with a collection of nearly 30,000 volumes, along with major foreign satellite TV program resources related to English, Japanese, and German.

Approved by the Academic Degree Commission of the State Council, USTB is one of the 31 universities that can confer doctoral degrees in Foreign Language and Literature, being one of the few science and engineering colleges and universities among them. Now we have two Tier 2 doctoral programs, four Tier 2 Master's programs, as well as three undergraduate majors in English, Japanese, German.

To cultivate talents through dedicated learning has always been our aim. By taking a “students-oriented method that believes students are beneficiaries” as the educational philosophy of the school, and firmly grasping objectives of nurturing “solid-based, practice-based, broad-horizon and international-based” talents, we focus on cultivating students into foreign language professionals. Professionals with a strong sense of social responsibility, solid foreign language skills, a wide knowledge structure, good comprehensive qualities, practical abilities, innovation potential and international perspective. All teaching activities are for the students’ development.

The advantages and features of foreign language training is in harmony with our talent training goal, which is reflected in four core characteristics. The first is to cultivate students with a solid language foundation. We believe that good language skills are of vital importance, no matter what path students will choose after graduation. In this regard, we pay special attention to improving students’ comprehensive ability in English. While imparting knowledge and cultivating ability, we pay special attention to improving students’ comprehensive accomplishment and cultivating students’ self-study and self-development abilities so as to allow them tomes the needs of society and their career development in the future. The passing rates of TEM-4 and TEM-8 have always been among the best in China, nearly 40 percent higher than the national average. Every year, there are more than 20 students who are recommended to the top universities in the country to study a master’s degree without the admission examination, among which 6 to 10 are recommended to Peking University and Tsinghua University respectively.

The second is to cultivate students with comprehensive qualities. Building on the advantages of the majors in science and engineering and the atmosphere of mutual cooperation between the arts and sciences at our university. The university offers 35 undergraduate programs in the fields of engineering, science, management, humanities, economics and law in addition to foreign language majors. Students can either study foreign language and literature for the master’s or doctorate’s degree in the future, or take other programs through the double degree or major-minor system according to their own interests while regarding a foreign language as a tool. In 2014, for example, our school had a total of 177 students who studied a double major, accounting for 58.03 percent of all students. After graduation, among the students who chose to study for a master’s degree, 79.55 percent chose to study in majors unrelated to languages but highly related to their double majors.

The third characteristic of the SFS is the internationalization of training. Over the past three years, we have sent a total of 184 students to the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries for exchanges and studies. In 2014, 76 students went to foreign countries for exchanges. Each year, more than 60 percent of the graduates are enrolled by well-known universities and colleges at home and abroad often via postgraduate recommendation, taking part in the postgraduate entrance exams, or applying for further study. In the year of 2014, 69.29 percent of our students chose to pursue further study, of which the students who chose to study abroad accounted for 53.41 percent.

The fourth characteristic of the school is that we focus on practice. In order to encourage students to use what they have learned and thus promote learning in turn, we carry out various foreign language practice activities. These include activities and lectures such as the Foreign Language Film Dubbing Contest, Foreign Language Festival at the University of Science and Technology, the Ginkgo Star Award, debates, short plays and other competitions. Off campus, we have established foreign language practice bases with some institutions including the Beijing Foreign Enterprise Service Group (FESCO), the China International Talent Market, the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, and the Central African Chamber of Commerce, which are useful supplements to classroom learning. We encourage students travel and compete with other students in foreign languages in competitions at well-known universities and colleges. In 2014, Yang Haotian, major in English Language and Literature, won the second place in the 19th “21st Century • Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition, and, on behalf of China, went to the United Kingdom to participate in the International Public English Speech contest (IPSC2014) sponsored by the International English Federation (ESU). In 2012, Feng Li, major in Japanese Language and Literature, won the special award in the “7th China National Japanese Speech Contest” in the competition area of Beijing, and, on behalf of Beijing, went to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the final competition. Zhang Min, major in German Language and Literature, won the highest award in the “7th Session of the Sino-German Literary Translation Contest” and was rewarded the opportunity to study in Germany for a month.

Dear students, with the acceleration of globalization in today’s world China is more open than ever and eager for the world to understand the real China. Now in its rise and rapid development process, China urgently needs a large number of interdisciplinary and talented individuals who who know China, understand the world and specialize in foreign languages. No matter where you are going in the future, foreign languages will help you get there. Come to the School of Foreign Studies at USTB, here you may find that the greater your mind is, the more you will be able to achieve in China. At USTB the size of your heart and reach of your dreams will determine how large your stage can be. We sincerely welcome those students who are interested in foreign languages to study at our school. We are look forward to your arrival.