Beijing Foreign Studies University

Committed to nurturing talent with an interdisciplinary educational background and multilingual skills, Beijing Foreign Studies University has been a national leader of higher education for nearly 80 years. Now with the foundation of the School of International Journalism and Communication (SIJC) in 2014, it has introduced an innovative teaching model, integrating foreign language study with training in journalism and strategic communication.

SIJC stands for the school motto: Self-discipline, Independence, Justice and Cooperation.

Born from the School of English and International Studies, SIJC teaches students a well-rounded skill set, aiming to enhance their proficiency in English, ability in a second foreign language as well as the expertise of the professional journalist. Currently, the School has 24 faculty members, including 10 professors and 4 associate professors. All of them have received doctoral degrees. SIJC also recruits domestic and foreign scholars, media experts and journalists as part-time or visiting professors.

SIJC’s teaching and research focus on international/global journalism, cross-cultural communication, media ethics, and strategic communication (advertising and public relations). The school currently has 230 undergraduate and 188 graduate students. In 2016, it started a PhD programme and it currently has 42 PhD students.

The undergraduate curriculum includes three modules – journalism and communication, English language studies, and international studies. Students of this program are expected to pass the TEM-8 (Test for English Major-Band 8), a national English proficiency test, in their fourth year. They are required to complete their BA thesis in English.

Our journalism and communication courses are designed to give students an understanding of how the media operate, journalistic ways of thinking and practical skills in multimedia news reporting, writing and editing. Most of the courses are taught in English. Students can take credit courses in English language and literature, law, international relations, economics or business management.

SIJC attaches great importance to experiential learning. Students are encouraged to contribute to campus media such asFirst Mover, an English newspaper focusing on both national and world news;107 Investigation, a newspaper in Chinese featuring in-depth reporting; or Wenxin, a Chinese newspaper with an emphasis on literature. In addition, students can intern at Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, China Media Group (including former China Radio International (CRI), China Central Television (CCTV), China Global Television Network (CGTN), and China National Radio (CNR)), Information Office of the State Council as well as foreign media outlets based in Beijing. Internship is a compulsory part of the course.

Graduates from the school find work as journalists, editors, translators, managers in public relations or teachers and researchers in academia. Many have found employment in the following areas:

1. Central government institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the State Sports General Administration, the Ministry of State Security, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce;

2. Media organizations, such as Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, China Media Group, People's Daily and other key state media institutions and at all levels of newspapers, television, radio and internet media;

3. Foreign employers such as Associated Press and other news companies abroad and the China-based office of Bertelsmann and Mars, a Global 500 enterprise.

4. SIJC works with universities and colleges around the world, offering our students truly international educational and intern opportunities at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Currently we have undergraduate cooperative programs with Columbia University, University of Leicester, University of Queensland and National University of Ireland Maynooth. Our MA partners include the BFSU-Bolton International Multimedia Journalism MA Program (approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education), cooperative programs with Lancaster University and the University of Auckland; an MA student-exchange with the Universities of Vienna and Salzburg; and summer school programmes, with the University of California at Berkeley and Cambridge University.

5. SIJC prepares students well for professional development with a bilingual education in international journalism and strategic communication. Welcome to SIJC!

Program Characteristics

1. SIJC teaches students a well-rounded skill set, aiming to enhance their proficiency in English, ability in a second foreign language as well as the expertise of the professional journalist.

2. Most of the courses are taught in English. Students can take credit courses in English language and literature, law, international relations, economics or business management.

3. Students can intern at Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, China Media Group, Information Office of the State Council as well as foreign media outlets based in Beijing. Internship is a compulsory part of the course.

4. SIJC works with universities and colleges around the world. SIJC prepares students well for professional development with a bilingual education in international journalism and strategic communication.