Shandong Vocational University of Foreign Affairs (SW) is a full-time undergraduate university approved by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The University was founded in 1999 as a college. After being approved by the People's Government of Shandong Province and registered through the Ministry of Education, the college was reconstructed as Shandong Vocational College of Foreign Affairs Translation which offered vocational education to full-time students in July 2004. The college was upgraded to be an undergraduate university with the approval of the Ministry of Education in December 2018. It was renamed as Shandong Vocational University of Foreign Affairs in May 2019. Li Zhaoxing, former Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC and former Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC, is the honorary President.
Since its establishment, adhering to the motto of "Integrating of Chinese and Western Characteristics, Unity of Knowledge and Action", the university has overcome many difficulties and has moved forward. With years of continuous efforts the university has made remarkable development in teaching, research, etc.. which has enhanced the university’s operation and reputation.
The university is comprised of two campuses— one in Weihai and the other in Jinan, covering a total area of 1.168 million with a building area of 423,000 square meters. The University consists of 16 teaching units, including Schools of Foreign Languages, International Relations, International Exchange, International Business, Management, Information and Control Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Nursing, Art, STEM Education, Continuing Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Comprehensive School, Departments of Ideological and Political Affairs, Basic Courses and Sports. And 56 majors are provided in the university for more than 15,000 undergraduates and college students, forming a system of disciplines comprising full-time education for undergraduates and college students with literature, economics, management, engineering, law, education, and art.
Our university has been paying high attention to bettering the basic teaching conditions as there are 4 experimental and practical teaching centers (Applied Foreign Language Training Center, International Business Training Center, Tourism Management Training Center and Computer Experimental Teaching Center), among which, Applied Foreign Language Training Center is Weihai municipal’s demonstrative training center, and Electronic Commerce and Technology R&D Center is the provincial-level engineering technology center. In addition, there are 114 on-campus experimental and training rooms, 146 off-campus practice and training bases, and 140 multimedia and E-interactive classrooms. And at the experimental teaching center for simultaneous interpretation, 7 languages can be simultaneously carried out, leading in China. Also the translation training room is equipped with internationally advanced software system for translation services, which supports two-way translation in 64 languages adequate for practice teaching.
With regard to digital campus full coverage of integrated intelligent management has been complete. And the TV broadcast control center can simultaneously broadcast programs in 11 foreign languages. The library moreover covers 27,800 square meters with 135,7800 paper books and 7.5TB of electronic books. The reading space is as large as 6,100 square meters. The library has a perfect automatic management system for books and reference materials as well as abundant online resources. Venues and other facilities for sports have been improved. The living infrastructures comprising student canteens and apartments for Chinese and international students are of higher levels.
Our University has been vigorously and consistently strengthening teaching staff and optimizing its structure. We currently have more than 1000 faculty members, among whom 688 are full-time teachers, 241 of whom hold senior professional and other senior titles, 406 are double-professionally-titled teachers, 387 have doctoral or master degrees, 5 groups of teachers are of excellent provincial level, 5 are receiving special allowances from the State Council, 3 are committee members of the Ministry of Education of China, 3 are outstanding teachers of Shandong Province, 2 are high-end talents of Shandong Think Tank and 6 are entitled prominent teachers of Shandong Province. And there are a relatively stable group of foreign teachers residing in the university.
Taking teaching as the center and carrying out a top leadership project, our university has been actively in teaching quality diagnosis and improvement, cultivating skilled talents and teaching quality project. The university boasts 12 provincial-level distinctive and brand majors (groups), 12 provincial-level top-quality courses and top-quality resource sharing courses, has completed 10 provincial and ministerial-level teaching reform, and has been awarded with 4 provincial-level and above teaching achievement awards. In the evaluation of talents cultivation for higher vocational Institutions of Shandong Province in 2015, the 7 grade I indexes were all up to excellent levels with excellent scores.
Our university has attached great importance to research work and has always adhered to the guidelines " research leads and supports teaching" , and has provided various academic platforms. The Research Institute of Sun’s Art of War of Chinese Pre-Qin History Academy, Shandong Higher Education Research Institute, and Higher Education Development Research Center of Shandong Higher Education Management Research Association has been housed in our university. Moreover, in our university has established a Foreign Language Translation Research Center, Shandong E-commerce and Technology Research & Development Center, Northeast Asia Research Institute, Institute of Chinese Classics, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Gentleman Culture Research Center, Art Research Institute and other academic institutions.
Recent years have witnessed the new development of research in our university. Projects approved in researches have been granted by 2 national, 25 provincial and 67 municipal authorities and the number of published academic papers has reached 1105, 63 in academic monographs, and 33 in utility model patents. Award for outstanding achievements to the municipal and departmental level has been achieved above 53. Significant scientific and technological achievements would be multiplied by virtue of funding increase in scientific research, innovation in the research concept, and enhancement in the research consciousness, and great atmosphere of scientific research.
With its characteristic advantages, our university carries out school-enterprise cooperation and social services actively. A foreign language training center and Yilin Translation Company have been established to provide multilingual and multi-level foreign languages training and translation. In recent years, the school-enterprise cooperation has been continuing to expand, and more than 200 companies have signed agreements with our university. Well-known companies such as JD Group, Suning Cloud Business Group, and Ping An Insurance of China have established on-campus training centers in schools. Among them, the JD Campus Training Center was awarded the honorary title of "National Vocational School E-commerce Internet and Double Innovation Training Base" by the Vocational Education Equipment Professional Committee of the Chinese Vocational and Technical Education Association due to its outstanding performance in e-commerce BPO business. And the university is established as "JD Strategic Partner". As an outsourcing training institution in Shandong Province and a university governing unit of the China Service Outsourcing School-Enterprise Alliance, the university and its partners actively carry out professional technical training in e-commerce, software and information services, and the annual training number reaches about 1,200. In the second "China Outsourcing Human Resources Service Organization Education Institution Selection", the school won the "The Most Potential Growth Award".
Our University vigorously carries out international exchanges and cooperation actively providing platforms for students to study abroad. At present, the university has established cooperation with more than 50 overseas universities from over 20 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei. The cooperative projects include top-up courses, graduate entrance courses, exchange student, short-term research and study, etc. Meanwhile, overseas internship and employment platform is another concern of the University, who has established various employment projects in association with Fortune Global 500 companies from Hong Kong, high end internship projects in Singapore, Dubai and countries mentioned above, expanding the international education.
The Party Committee in our university gives full play to the leading role of the political core, fully implements the Party's educational policy, firmly grasps the direction of running a socialist school, and strengthens the construction of grass-roots organizations. Our university has set up board of directors, school councils, staff congress, academic committees and other organizations in accordance with the law. We adhere to the fundamental task of fostering talent, running the ideological and political work through the whole process of teaching. In 2014, our university was named "Demonstration Point of Party Building work of Social Organization in Shandong Province" by the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and in 2015 it was named "Advanced Collective of Ideological and Political Education Work in Colleges and Universities in the Province".
Our university has been continuously strengthening the campus culture with various academic, recreational and sports activities. The students have won 256 national and provincial awards in various professional skills competitions, including the first prize of National English Writing Contest for Vocational Colleges and the first prize of Shandong Division of CCTV star of Hope English Contest. Over the past five years, the graduate employment rate has remained above 96 percent. Due to its standardized management and outstanding achievements in running schools, the university has been awarded as "National Integrity Demonstration Institution" and "Shandong Advanced Collective of Higher Education Teaching Management". The President, Professor Sun Chengwu, has been awarded the national "Huang Yanpei Vocational Education Award Outstanding President Award".
