Center of Gender and International Issues
The Center of Gender and International Issues is the first academic institution dedicated to gender and international issues studies in China. Funded by self-financing and university support, the center conducted teaching and research to highlight the university’s advantages and expand foreign exchanges, aiming at a leading position in the country. Currently the center has set up a long-term cooperation with the Ford Foundation and the Institute of World Economics and Politics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The Vice President of Beijing Foreign Studies University Professor Jin Li also serves as the director of the center and Professor Li Yingtao from the Department of Diplomacy serves as the executive deputy director.
Center of East-West Relations
The purposes of the Center of East-west Relations are to promote the studies of east and west cultures and relations in Beijing Foreign Studies University and in China, to advance the public awareness to have exchanges with other civilizations under the context of globalization, and to conduct exchanges and cooperation with foreign counterpart scholars and academic institutions and promote dialogues among civilizations on the issues concerned in this post-modern and globalization era.
The director of the center is our foreign expert Professor Tian Chenshan.
Research and Academic Activities
In three years since SIRD was established, our teachers have published or edited 20 monographs or textbooks and over 130 papers, and taken 20 research projects of different levels and categories, which have earned certain reputation for the school in the academic circle both in China and abroad. SIRD has also host The Fifth National Symposium on China’s Diplomatic Strategy and the Construction of Diplomatic Discipline and The Symposium on New Development Trends in Major Power Relations and the Construction of Academic Journals, and created the Annual Youth Forum on International Issues and other high level symposiums, which elevate the academic reputation and influence of the school.
Teaching and Talents Training
The Department of Diplomacy has paid great attention in highlighting the advantages of the university in its teaching and has followed a guideline of focusing on both specialty and foreign language training. Its course design covers three categories: major courses conducted in Chinese, major courses conducted in both Chinese and English, and basic and major courses conducted in English (each occupies 1/3 of the total). The basic English language courses (including intensive reading, oral English, listening, phonetics, extensive reading, writing and translation) amount to 36.1% of total class hours. In recent five years, the pass rate of our undergraduates in the National Test of English Majors (TEM) Band 8 reaches an average of over 98%.
So far our school has established three out-of-campus practice bases in the Association of United Nation, Chinese Football Association, and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and initiated the “Summer School” project with University of Denver in the US.
After years of efforts we have made sound achievement in fostering the practical capabilities of our students. Our students have participated in national competition in foreign affairs and diplomatic etiquette, Model United Nations and Model High-level Forums and other activities and achieve excellent results. Moreover, they have won the awards in academic paper competitions held by Global Times and other organizations and worked in the organization of World Expo, World Energy Conference, and Olympics 2008, etc.
Graduate Destination
Our graduates actually study for two majors (Diplomacy and English) in four years and by graduation they also received double bachelor’s degree of Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts conferred by the university in addition to the standard Bachelor of Law degree conferred by the Degree Office of the State Council.
Our graduates have shown strong competitiveness in employment, postgraduate studies and overseas studies. Quite a number of graduates manage to pursue postgraduate studies in famous universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Renmin University of China, etc. Many of them successfully received offers from top university in the world such as Oxford University, Harvard University, and Cornell University, etc. The employment rate of our graduates reaches nearly 98%, with graduates working in the diplomatic and foreign affairs institutions, media, large and medium-sized enterprises and multinational enterprises. Most of the graduates could quickly change their roles from students to professionals and adapt to their new jobs.
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