Beijing Normal University

Beijing Normal University is a key university directly administered by China’s Ministry of Education. It is a renowned comprehensive research university with a leading role in teacher education. With more than 120 years of history and a rich cultural heritage, it is one of the founding institutions of modern Chinese higher education.

Its overall disciplinary strength ranks among the highest in China. According to first-level discipline assessment results released by the Ministry of Education’s China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center, 6 first-level disciplines received A+ ratings: Education, Psychology, Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History, Drama and Film Studies, and Geography. Twelve disciplines were selected for Double First-Class development: Philosophy, Education, Psychology, Chinese Language and Literature, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Chinese History, Mathematics, Geography, Systems Science, Ecology, Environmental Science and Engineering, and Drama and Film Studies. Its number of selected disciplines ranks among the highest at Chinese universities.

The university brings together distinguished scholars and rich educational resources and is an important national base for training high-quality innovative talent. It has 2 national bases for talent training and research in basic humanities disciplines, 5 national bases for basic science research and teaching talent training, and 1 national pilot school. It has been selected for the national pilot program for training top students in basic disciplines. It is a national university student cultural quality education base, a national training base for teachers of Chinese as a foreign language, a national life sciences and technology talent training base, and a Ministry of Education base for the inheritance of fine traditional Chinese culture in Chinese spoken drama. It has 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 2 national virtual simulation experimental teaching centers, 5 Ministry of Education experimental zones for innovative talent training models, and 2 national education and training bases for outstanding legal professionals.

It actively conducts international exchange and cooperation to broaden students’ global outlook and improve their global competence. It exchanges with renowned universities and research institutions in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, and continually advances academic cooperation with world-class universities including Stanford University, the University of Oxford and the University of Helsinki. It runs university- and school-level student exchange programs with renowned overseas institutions. Its nearly 300 partner universities include the University of California in the United States, the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, Leiden University in the Netherlands, the University of Zurich in Switzerland, the University of Munich in Germany, the University of New South Wales in Australia, Waseda University in Japan, Seoul National University in South Korea, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Moscow State University in Russia. Forms of cooperation include exchanges, visiting study, joint training, dual-degree programs and short courses. It also actively develops educational cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road to promote cultural and people-to-people exchange.

Beijing Normal University began educating international students in the 1960s and was among China’s earliest universities to do so. It currently admits international degree students to 44 undergraduate, 80 master’s and 65 doctoral programs. It also offers various visiting student programs with coursework lasting one semester to one academic year. Its academic divisions, schools and departments provide varied short-term programs, offering international students abundant opportunities for specialist study and cultural experiences.