Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is a university directly under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. It was established in 1962 under the guidance of Premier Zhou Enlai. In June 1964, it was designated as Beijing Language Institute. In 1974, Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name for the Institute. In June 1996, it was then renamed Beijing Language and Culture University.
BLCU is known as the Mini-United Nations; it is the only university of its kind in China that specializes in offering Chinese language and culture courses to foreign students. Meanwhile, BLCU provides professional courses in various fields, such as foreign languages, Chinese language, information science, economics, arts, and other majors to Chinese students. In addition, BLCU helps foster the growth of our academic faculty and supplies language courses designed for those who plan to study abroad. Over 50 years of development has made BLCU a multidisciplinary university that has enhanced language teaching and research. This was done with synergetic development in fields such as Chinese, foreign languages, and other relevant disciplines. Since its foundation in 1962, BLCU has been an important academic base for language and cultural research and the cradle for advanced international talents in China. In 2014, we made the explicit aim and plan to build a first-class language university and to promote the development of four great academic fields.
BLCU conducts Sino-foreign joint programs in various forms. It conducted joint-degree programs in undergraduate and graduate levels with over 10 foreign universities, such as Webster University and George Mason University in the U.S., Konstanz University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and the University of Manchester in Britain. BLCU has co-established 18 Confucius Institutes and 2 independent Confucius Classrooms, and was awarded the“Outstanding Confucius Institute Chinese Partner of the Year”. In recent years, around 100 teachers teach overseas and more than 400 students study abroad each year. The university receives over 1500 international visitors each year as well.
