The School of Foreign Languages (SFL) of SIT was established in March 2010, evolving from the Department of Foreign Languages founded in 2001. Adhering to the university’s motto of “Virtue, Knowledge and Deed,” SFL upholds the educational philosophy of “Teaching First, Strengthening Research and Fostering Harmony,” achieving rapid development under the leadership of the school’s current administration.
The school comprises six teaching and research institutions: Department of Applied English, Department of Applied German, College English Teaching and Research Section I, College English Teaching and Research Section II, Translation Center, and Language Industry Innovation Center. The school currently has over 500 undergraduates and 85 faculty members, including 76 full-time teachers. Among them, there are three professors, one of whom holds the title of Shanghai Distinguished Professor (Oriental Scholar), and 25 associate professors. Altogether, there are 21 teachers holding doctoral degrees and 8 doctoral candidates in the school, with 47 faculty members having studied or conducted research at renowned universities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, and other countries.
The school offers undergraduate programs in English and German, focusing on cultivating individuals with broad international perspectives and profound humanistic qualities. The curriculum aims to equip students with comprehensive language skills in English and German, along with knowledge of the respective cultures, languages and literatures, and translation theories and methods. Students are trained to develop strong translation and interpretation abilities, as well as cross-cultural communication skills, to meet the needs of China’s economic and social development, foreign exchanges, foreign-related industries, and academic research. The school strengthens collaborations with universities in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and other countries to facilitate student exchanges abroad. Meanwhile, it enhances industry-academia integration, collaborates with enterprises, and provides excellent internship opportunities for students. Additionally, the school has signed agreements for joint graduate education with Kashi University, with seven faculty members serving as supervisors for master’s students in the university. Agreements for joint graduate education have also been signed with the School of Advanced Translation and Interpretation and the School of German Studies of Dalian University of Foreign Languages, offering joint graduate education programs in English translation and German translation.
The research capability of the school has been continuously improving. In the past six years, it has undertaken one general project and one Chinese Academic Translation Project funded by the National Social Science Fund, and five projects at the provincial and ministerial levels. Additionally, it has produced one consulting report adopted by the Ministry of Education. A total of 187 papers have been published, including 13 from journals indexed in SSCI and CSSCI. Furthermore, the school has published four monographs, edited nine books, and translated 18 works, with a cumulative translation volume of 6.2 million words. The research funding has been increasing year by year.
The school undertakes college English teaching for all undergraduate and graduate students of the entire university, continuously deepening the reform of academic English instruction in the college English teaching program, and serving the goals of the university for cultivating applied and innovative talents. In 2015, it became one of the first batch of academic English teaching reform demonstration sites in Shanghai (with a total of 9 universities in the city). In 2017, it won the first prize of the Teaching Achievement Award by Shanghai Committee for Teaching English Language to Majors in Higher Education and the first prize of the Teaching Achievement Award by SIT. In 2020, it won the first prize of the Teaching Achievement Award by SIT again.
In recent years, the school has received 39 teaching awards (including 17 national-level special awards, municipal special awards, first prizes, and second prizes; 3 special awards and 6 first prizes at the university level); it has obtained more than 30 education projects from the Ministry of Education, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, and SIT; it has been awarded one national-level first-class undergraduate course, 6 first-class undergraduate courses in Shanghai and one Shanghai demonstration course on ideological and political education. The university has recognized five teachers as “My Favorite Teacher” and “Teaching New Stars,” and has awarded one excellent teaching and research office, and the college English teaching reform team has been awarded several honorary titles at the municipal level. Students have won 52 special prizes and first prizes in National English Competition for College Students, 14 first prizes and 9 second prizes in various authoritative English competitions at the national level, and 19 special prizes, first prizes, and second prizes in municipal competitions.
In preparation for the future, the school is accumulating steadily and striving for breakthroughs. Embracing the development trend of foreign language teaching reform in China, and taking advantage of the momentum of building a high-level applied innovative university with international influence, faculties and staff of SFL are fully engaged in the practice of educational reform with great enthusiasm. We are striving for progress and success, in the persistent pursuit of cultivation of more outstanding talents.
