Introductionto School of Foreign Languages

The School of Foreign Languages, which grew out of the Department of Foreign Languages of Qujing Teachers’ College set up in 1978, the EnglishDepartment of the Qujing College of Education established in 1984, and theForeign Language Department of Qujing Normal University founded in 2000, wasset up in 2006, and it enjoys a history of 42 years since its foundation of theEnglish discipline in 1978.

The School of Foreign Languages features 4 majors, including the EnglishMajor (teaching-oriented), Business English Major, the Thai Language Major, andthe Indonesian Language Major. And it has an enrollment of 916 full-timeon-campus students from across China. The school offers the courses of CollegeEnglish, College Thai and College Vietnamese for students to choose, and somecourses related to English language for the excellent class programs as well.The school also takes the responsibility of serving about 100 internationalstudents.

The school is currently staffed with 88 people, including 5 professors, 18associate professors, 4 teachers with doctorates, 1 PhD candidate, 69 teacherswith master’s or doctor’s degree, and 4 supervisors for masters. The number ofteachers with master’s degrees and doctor’s degrees accounts for 85.18 % of thefaculty. Besides, the School of Foreign Languages has employed 8 guestprofessors, 1 senior academic advisor, and 7 international experts. 31 teachersserved as visiting scholars in the universities of the Great Britain, theUnited States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Thailand,Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries. 42 teachers paid visit to foreignuniversities. 1 teacher was awarded the first prize in the National EnglishTeaching Skills Contest for Normal University Teachers. 2 teachers were the 1^stand the 2^nd prize recipients of the “Union of Yunnan ProvincialCollege Teachers Cup” Teaching Contest. 4 teachers were awarded the 2^ndand 3^rd prizes in the “Foreign Language Teaching and Research Cup”English Teaching Contest.

The school has accomplished 4 state-funded programs for social sciences,and 2 Educational Ministry-funded programs for humanities and social sciences,2 Educational Ministry listed projects, 2 foreign language teaching researchprograms of the National Primary Education Experiment Centre of the EducationalMinistry, 11 provincial programs for philosophy and social sciences, 2publishing sponsored programs, 6 provincial educational planning programs, 20Yunnan Provincial Educational Council-funded programs for scientificresearches, and many programs from Qujing Municipal Government, Qujing NormalUniversity. The faculty are undertaking 1 Educational Ministry-funded program,3 provincial programs for philosophy and social sciences, 1 provincialeducational planning program, and 3 Yunnan Provincial EducationalCouncil-funded programs. The school also has published 30 books, includingacademic works, textbooks and selection of papers, and 750-strong researchpapers. 4 of the works were granted awards for outstanding achievements ofYunnan provincial philosophy and social sciences researches. The school has 4research institutes, including the university-level Institute for Middle and PrimarySchool English Teaching, Institute for Bilingual Education, Institute for Translationand Cross-culture, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, a MOE filingcenter for area studies. The Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics hasbeen set up as a university-level key discipline. And the disciplinaryorientations of applied linguistics, translation theory and practice,theoretical linguistics, intercultural communication, and the like have formed.

The university is a Model for Yunnan Provincial College English Teaching Reformand a Model for Non-lingua Franca Talents Education. The Listening of Thai,Reading of Thai, and Chinese Culture Appreciation, a bilingualdemonstration course, and other courses, have been listed as Yunnan provinciallevel teaching quality choice projects. Translation, English Teaching Theories,Integrated English, and Cultures of Western Countries, have been set up as keycourses of the university. English Linguistics and English Phonetics arequality courses. Applied Translation, Integrated Thai and other courses havebeen listed in the school level teaching quality program. The College Englishteaching reform was awarded the 1^st prize for excellent teachingreform achievements.

The school is characterized by the talent-training mode of internationalcooperation, the strong momentum of diversified talent cultivation ways, andthe effective promotion of international cooperation. The school has conductedcooperation with universities like Mansfield University, Appalachian Universityin USA, and Chiang Mai University，Kasem Bundit University，Burapha University，Rajabhat Rajanagarindra University，Nakhon Pathom RajabhatUniversity in Thailand, Yogyakarta State University in Indonesia. The“2+1+1” and “3+1”models are employed to jointly cultivate students. The “Thai +English + business” and “Indonescian+ English + business” all-round talentsexperimental classes are launched to nurture all-round down-to-earth bilingualtalents with international business knowledge. The School organizes students todo internships in primary and secondary schools in Thailand to broaden theirhorizons. The School has established long-term cooperative ties with Tyler,Texas, U.S.A. and two-way exchanges have been conducted. The School of ForeignLanguages has sent excellent students to Tyler for exchanges for 17 straightyears. The school has also set up cooperative ties with teaching institutes ofNorth Carolina and sent students there for exchanges.

The Chinese for international students program is developing rapidly inthe school, for the university is a Chinese language education base in Yunnan,which provides the people in Qujing and overseas Chinese with a platform forcultural exchanges and cooperation. More than 1200 students from over 10countries, such as the United States, Germany, Thailand, Canada, Kazakhstan,Garner, Cameroon, Burma, and Laos, have undergone education or short-termChinese language and culture training at the school. About 100 internationalstudents are currently studying in the school.

The school boasts the all-round developed students with excellentprofessional skills.160-odd students entered graduate schools of People’sUniversity of China, Shanghai International Studies University, TongjiUniversity, Foreign Economics and Trade University, University of Birminghamand University of Reading in the UK, Chulalongkorn University and Chiang MaiUniversity in Thailand, The Hong Kong University of Science Technology, ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong, Xi’an International Studies University, TianjinForeign Studies University, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, SichuanInternational Studies University, Zhongshan University, Wuhan University,Xiamen University, Shandong University, Southwest University and the like.

Remarkable achievements have been made in foreign language and culturebuilding. Since 2017, the schoolhas undertaken many professional competitions in the Southwest division andYunnan division. Students have participated in a diversity of English contests,like the National English Competition for College Students and the National"Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press Cup" English speech,reading, writing and debate competitions. The National College Students'English Teachers Vocational Skills Competition, the National ETTBL Contest of BusinessEnglish Translation, Interpretation, the National English Business DebateContest, the "Coca Cola Cup" 21st Century National English Speech Contest,the National “One Topic for Millions” English writing contest, and the YunnanProvincial Southeast Asian Languages Contests, and won national award of 206, andprovincial awards 462.