Overview

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) is a major internationalized university in South China for its global-minded faculty and students, as well as its research on international languages, literature, culture, trade and strategic studies. The University serves 20,126 full-time undergraduate students, 4,716 graduate students and over 12,000 international and continuing-education students.

Dating back to 1965 when the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages was established and 1980 when the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade was founded, the University took its present form with the merging of the two in 1995, when the Guangdong College of Finance and Economics was incorporated into the university in 2008. The University is located in Guangzhou, a city known for its long history and prosperous economy. The University has four campuses with a total area of 162.8 hectares: the Baiyun Mountain Campus at the foot of the Baiyun Mountain, the University Town Campus in Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, the Dalang Campus and the Knowledge city Campus.

With a total of 2188 employees, GDUFS has a faculty of 1378 members, 54.64% of whom are full or associate professors. Among them 97 are nationally recognized for their outstanding scholarship or teaching or the honor of serving national academic institutions, 97 provincially recognized, 385 GDUFS-honored Yunshan Scholars. In addition, it has 3 nationally recognized teaching or innovation teams and 24 provincially recognized teaching teams. The university also has 43 guest professors and nearly 100 long-term international teachers.

With its 25 faculties and schools, GDUFS has a robust system in place for its dual focus on and coordinated sustainable development of both international languages and other non-language academic disciplines. It offers 68 undergraduate programs of study covering eight major categories of academic discipline: literature, economics, management, law, engineering, science, education, and art. Among them are 43 nationally recognized and 58 provincially recognized for excellence. With 28 foreign languages available, the University is the only one in South China that boasts the greatest variety of foreign language programs. It was accorded the qualification to confer master's degrees back in 1981 and doctoral degrees in 1986. With one National Key Discipline and eight Provincial Key Disciplines, GDUFS offers two post-doctoral programs, 25 doctoral programs, and 84 master's programs.

Upholding its motto of Pursuit of Integrity, Practice, and Cross-cultural Learning, GDUFS vigorously promotes the in-depth integration of program-specific studies and foreign language training so as to nurture global-minded responsible person who are excellent in both ethical cultivation and academic achievement, strong in both cross-cultural communication and hands-on creativity, and with a deep love of the country. A member of FIT(International Federation of Translators), CIUTI (International Standing Conference of University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters), and AIIC(International Association of Conference Interpreters), and part of the UN MoU Network of universities, GDUFS is also home to the Secretariats of China national committee for both under-and post-graduate education in translation, a founding institution of WITTA (World Interpreter and Translator Training Association), and China's only foreign studies-oriented university which is in the CAMPUS ASIA program initiated by the heads of state of China, Japan and Korea.

Consistently dedicated to the advancement of academic research, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies has in place a four-tiered research framework at national, provincial, municipal and university levels. Nine national research institutes are designated by the MOE, seventeen research institutes are designated by the Province of Guangdong, and four by Guangzhou City. It also has two provincial government-serving think tanks named Guangdong Research Institute on International Strategies and the Research Center for Pacific Island Strategic Studies. GDUFS has four academic journals, namely Linguistics&Applied Linguistics, International Economics&Trade Research, Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Journal of Strategy & Decision-Making.

GDUFS maintains cooperative ties with more than 483 universities or academic institutions to date in 60 countries or regions. It runs seven Confucius Institutes or Confucius Classrooms overseas at Sapporo University in Japan, Ural State University in Russia, Catholic University of Santa Maria in Peru, Cape Verde University in Cape Verde, Confucius Classroom at Ain-Shams University of Egypt, Confucius Institute at University of Porto in Portugal, and Zi wei Confucius Classroom in Australia.

GDUFS has advanced teaching facilities, leading the rank among foreign language universities in China. The campuses enjoy an advanced internet network and management platform, and a total area of 52,000 square meters of various laboratories. Its libraries cover an area of 59,600 square meters.

Upholding the educational philosophy of "whole person education and pursuit of excellence", Guangdong University of Foreign Studies will carry on quality-oriented development speeds up reform and innovation, and vigorously promote education internationalization so as to make GDUFS a well-respected university of high academic standing with distinctive features of internationalization.