The Department of German of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) was established in 1950. At the very beginning, it had only 2 teachers and 14 students. In 2002, the German language and literature faculty of BFSU was identified as a national key program by the State Council Office for Academic Degrees. In 2008, it was identified as a national special program by the Chinese Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance.

The Department of German offers programs in 6 major fields, including German literature, linguistics, translation, intercultural studies, foreign policy & economy, and German language teaching. Our undergraduate programs are designed to produce qualified inter-disciplinary professionals for China. As a result, we have adopted a student-oriented curriculum catering to students’ pursuit for knowledge and personal interest. Building on the basic courses for our freshmen and sophomore students, we have introduced a dynamic curriculum for our junior and senior students composed of more advanced courses and intensive courses. Students can choose compulsory courses from 4 modules out of a total of 6 modules (German literature, linguistics, translation, intercultural studies, foreign policy and economy) based on their individual interest and careerplan.

The Department currently has a faculty and administrative staff of 37 people, including 33 full-time teachers, 29 of whom have PhD degrees. Among our teachers, there are 8 full professors (including 6 PhD supervisors), and 11 associate professors. In 2015, there are 345 students enrolled in our undergraduate programs, 92 in our master’s programs and 25 in our PhD programs.

The Department maintains cooperation relations with many prestigious universities such as the University of Heidelberg, the University of Gottingen, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the University of Passau, SDI Munich, and the University of Vienna. Each year, we send our students and teachers to take part in short-term study or exchange programs in the above mentioned schools. Meanwhile, we also admit international students to study for degrees in our department. Since 2008, we have been operating a dual master degree program in intercultural Germanic studies in partnership with China’s Nanjing University and the University of Gottingen. Graduate students in this program receive two degrees upon graduation from both Chinese and German universities. We also operate a dual PhD degree program in partnership with the Institute for the German Language (IDS) and the University of Mannheim.