About the School

The School of Foreign Languages and Literature is one of the oldest Schools in Wuhan University, whose history can be traced back to Ziqiang Institute, founded in 1893, and later in 1902, it was renamed as the Dialect Institute. After more than a century’s development, the School has become a key center of foreign language teaching and studies in Central China.

The School is entitled to offer a variety of degrees and programs at different levels, such as BA, MA, MTI and PhD under the first-level discipline of foreign languages and literature. There are 6 doctoral programs, 8 master’s degree programs, 6 bachelor degree programs for different languages and disciplines, including English, Russian, French, German, Japanese, Translation Studies, and Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. It also provides postdoctoral positions for young scholars. In addition, the discipline of French Language and Literature in the school has been awarded as one of the national key disciplines, and the discipline of English Language and Literature has been awarded as one of the key disciplines at the provincial level.

The School has a strong faculty with 213 full-time teachers, including 127 teachers in College English Department and 86 teachers in other departments. Among them, there are 18 professors and 85 associate professors. More than 95% teachers have experiences of studying, visiting or working overseas. Many teachers have won prizes in teaching competitions and appraisal of scientific research achievements. We employ qualified international scholars to teach courses involving different languages and subjects all the year round. The School now has 1 National Excellent Course, 2 Provincial Excellent Course, and 4 school-level Excellent Courses. It has also undertaken 38 national research projects, including 27 supported by National Social Science Foundation of China, 11 supported by the Ministry of Education, and over 123 other projects at various levels.

The School is the key construction unit of Project 985 and Project 211, including the third-phase construction project of Project 985 (A Study on the Cultural Mentality of Great Powers), and the phase III construction project of Project 211 (A Study on Social Transformation and Cultural Change in the Development of World History). At present, the School has several research institutes and centers, such as Institute for Foreign Language Studies, Institute of Foreign Literature Studies, Institute for Translation Studies, Center for Dictionary and Translation Studies, Centre for French Studies, Center for Sino-French Cultural Exchanges Studies, Center for African Studies and Center for Australian Studies. The School holds 2-3 important international and domestic academic conferences every year, and provides translation and interpreting services for major international academic conferences in China, which has won an unparalleled reputation.  

The School, committed to deepening teaching reform, reinforcing teaching management, and improving teaching quality, has won numerous awards. Meanwhile, it attaches great importance to improving students’ overall quality through international exchange programs and internship programs. The School currently has more than 1000 students, including over 700 undergraduate students and over 300 MA and PhD students. Many of them have won prizes in various foreign language competitions. Most of the graduates are welcomed by employers and their employment rate remains above 95%.

The School has established a close academic relation with universities and research institutions in countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and Spain, and districts such as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, in addition to mainland China. Every year, a great many of renowned scholars from abroad are invited to give lectures or engage in teaching and academic research. The School also exchanges students with more than 10 universities in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and other countries, and every year over 100 students are sent to pursue their study all over the world.  

The School building, which was put into use in 2005, is equipped with modern teaching facilities, such as Multimedia Classrooms, Language Labs, Simultaneous Interpretation Laboratory, Virtual Simulation Laboratory, Conference Hall and Satellite System capable of receiving English, Russian, Japanese, German, French and other foreign language TV programs. It also  has an advanced school library, rich in internet resources and electronic databases, in addition to 11 stack rooms, one periodical reading room, one back issue reading room and one electronic reading room. The school library is directly linked to the university library, which provides great convenience for the study and research of students and teachers.