On the basis of the former Department of European Languages, the School of European Languages and Cultures (SELC) was founded on September 21, 2007. Mr. Chen Haosu, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, Chairman of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Chairman of the China-EU Association, is now working as an Honorary Dean of the School.
The SELC has established the Department of the Central European Languages, the Department of the Southeastern European Languages and the Department of the Northwestern European Languages, and it instructs 15 languages including Polish, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Serbian, Croatian, Finnish, Slovak, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. In addition, the Research Center of Central and Eastern Europe and the Research Center of Finland represent the teaching and research institutes with the most European non-universal languages in China.
The history of the SELC dates back to the 50s last century. The establishment and development of its predecessors, namely the Department of Polish and Czech, the Department of Polish, Czech and Romanian and the Department of the Eastern European Languages, are closely related to the diplomatic, economic and cultural developments of the country. Under the leadership of the Party and Administration at BFSU, many senior teachers worked very hard and cultivated a number of much-needed professionals over periods. Many graduates have become diplomats and experts, and have been playing a significant role in promoting foreign relations and advancing China’s reform and opening up. Not only have they achieved great success, but they have also won international reputation and served as role models for young students.
The SELC has devoted itself to textbook and dictionary compilation, literary translation and academic researches. With the spirit of exploration and innovation, the SELC has achieved fruitful success. Many distinguished disciplines have gradually taken shape and a number of influential translators, literary researchers and language teachers have emerged from the school. The former Department of Eastern European Languages began to set up graduate program in 1984. Since 1998, it has developed graduate and doctoral programs on European Languages and Literature, which covers not only every major inside the department, but also some majors in other departments like Italian, Swedish and Portuguese. In 2001, as an Eastern European Languages Group, the whole department was listed into the National Non-Universal Languages Undergraduate Personnel Training Bases by the Ministry of Education. As one of the first faculties, the SELC has begun with the construction of characteristic discipline in 2007, with the approval of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.
The mission of the SELC is to cultivate talents, to pursue regional studies, to promote Chinese internationally and to intensify cultural interactions between China and the Europe.
In the academic year 2008-2009, the SELC has 279 undergraduate and graduate students in total.
At present, thirty-five members are working on the staff team. There are five professors, eight associate professors, thirteen instructors and seven assistant professors. Additionally, fifteen foreign experts and four visiting professors are invited to work at the SELC, under the framework of relevant agreements.