By Xiao Wu, video by Xingchen Yue, iChongqing news.
Chongqing - As an active response to the Belt and Road Initiative, Sichuan International Studies University, (SISU), has undertaken a mission to train the language professionals that could serve the economic development and cultural communication between countries along the Belt and Road. On May 17, the most prominent language university in SW China officially set up the Chongqing College of Multi-Languages.
On May 22, Prof. Liu Zhongzheng, the dean of Chongqing College of Multi-Languages, took an exclusive interview with iChongqing in his office to share more details about the mission of the new college.
Prof. Liu started with the current demand for language professionals under the Belt and Road Initiative. "The development of Belt and Road leads to the growing importance of the languages spoken by these counties. The market supply and demand ratio are approximately 1:5, which indicates the lack of professionals of relevant languages along the Belt and Road. "Said him. Under such circumstances, the newly-established College of Multi-Languages aims to cover languages of important regions along the Belt and Road including Southeast Asia, South Asia as well as Central and Eastern Europe in the long run. Currently, it offers Hebrew and Hungarian language majors. From September this year, it will recruit students for Polish, Czech, Hindi, and Burmese language studying. In the coming year, it plans to apply for setting up majors of Romanian, Malay, Turkish and Ukrainian.
According to Prof. Liu, the language training mode of the college is also very competitive. The students will study two foreign languages; namely, one of the languages the college offers plus English. He or she can choose majors (for a dual degree) such as diplomacy, journalism, international law, international economics & trade, or Chinese international education to enrich their background. The college encourages and offers opportunities for the students to study in the country of the language they learn. "We do not only pay attention to the cultivation of students' foreign language skills but also attach great importance to the improvement of students' overall capacity. We are dedicated to helping the students grow into practical and comprehensive language professionals with global vision and empathy."
To help the students develop in an all-around way, the College of Multi-Languages has established cooperation with companies and universities both at home and abroad. At present, it has signed internship agreements with Hubei Transn IOL Technology Co., Ltd and Chongqing Education International Exchange Association. Also, it has established cooperative relations with foreign universities including Bar-Ilan University, Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary and Jagiellonian University in Poland to jointly train students and teachers, and carry out academic exchanges and scientific research cooperation.
Every class for these language majors will have 10 to 15 students with 2 to 3 Chinese teachers and 1 to 2 foreign teachers. The teachers are highly skilled; many of them have Master's Degrees or Ph.D.'s. The college will arrange the teachers who currently have bachelor's degrees to study for master's degrees abroad in 2 to 3 years.
Mr. Jan Zywczo from Poland, who used to be a Polish teacher in Beijing Foreign Studies University, now works for the college. "I will take classes in September, but I have already gotten quite busy now. I need to prepare sufficient and good-quality teaching materials for my coming students," he said. To the question of what he would like to tell to his students, he said, "Polish may be difficult to learn, but it is also a satisfying process to acquire it."