Beijing university opens two new schools

Two new schools - one for liberal education and one for studies in international organizations - were established on Sunday at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), one of the best higher education institutions featuring the teaching of foreign languages and cultures.

Following the examples of Harvard University and Colombia University in New York, the liberal education school at BFSU was named for the whole university as "Beiwai School" or "BFSU School".

Peng Long, president of BFSU, said the school would focus on developing a liberal education with distinct characteristics of foreign language teaching and nurturing multilingual talent to serve China's national strategies.

Students accepted by the school will not have to choose a specific major when they first enroll at the university. Rather, they will receive a liberal education and study one or two foreign languages in their freshman and sophomore years, Peng said.

When they become juniors, they will have the right to make their own decision in choosing one or more disciplines, such as international politics, finance, law, communications and regional studies, to study.

The school for international organization studies will work to help young people who have a related interest to grow into the kind of talent needed by international organizations all over the world, Peng said.

To realize the goal, BFSU will integrate its teaching resources and assign three mentors to students: one for foreign languages; another for the knowledge of the kind of structure needed in work for international organizations, such as international relations, law and economics, and the third for practices.

The establishment of both schools are attempts by BFSU to boost reform in admission and curricula, as well as to developing BFSU into a world-class institution with world-class disciplines, Peng said.