College History: The history of the College of Foreign Languages of CKU can be traced back to the English Department of the former Jingzhou Normal College in 1977, and the College of Foreign Languages was established in 2003 through the merger of the Foreign Language Department of the former Jianghan Petroleum Institute, the English Department of Hubei Agricultural College, and the English Department of the former Jingzhou Normal College. The college was approved as a master's degree programme in the secondary discipline of Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in 2005, two professional master's degree programmes of Master of Translation (Translator) and Master of Education (English for Discipline) in 2019, and a master’s degree programme in the primary discipline of Foreign Languages and Literature in 2020; and the majors of Business English and English were approved as the provincial first-class undergraduate construction sites in 2019 and 2020 successively.
Features of the Major: The college takes “quality establishment, discipline strength, talent development” as the development concept, and takes cultivating innovative, compound and applied foreign language talents with “wide-calibre, thick foundation, strong ability and high quality” as the main goal, and implements the talent cultivation mode of “professional teaching + discipline competition + characteristic culture + cooperation between government, school and enterprise” to form professional features gradually. The Teacher Training Major (Direction) is based on the collaboration between institutions, making full use of courses, workshops, competitions, mentors and other elements, and practicing the teacher training mode of “laying a foundation through professional teaching, developing competence through practical training and competitions, and fostering growth through front-line practice”, aiming at cultivating competent and capable teachers. The major (direction) of Business English is led by the concept of “New Liberal Arts”, focusing on high-end cross-border e-commerce and the needs of regional economic development, relying on the platform of collaborative education between government, school and enterprises, and constructing the international compound talents of “English+Business+Innovation” with experiential teaching. With the experiential teaching, The college build an international compound talent cultivation mode of ‘English+Business+Innovation’ to cultivate compound and practical foreign language talents who are well versed in the rules of international business, have the ability of cross-cultural communication and have the literacy of digital business. The Japanese major achieves simultaneous enhancement of application ability and innovative thinking by building a dual-wheel drive model of “scientific curriculum system + innovative classroom design”, relying on a diversified practice platform, and connecting the growth paths of “professional training - industry internships” to build a “language + international vision + innovation” model, which is the basis for the development of the Japanese major. Multi-dimensional collaborative education system of “language+international vision+complex skills”.
School scale: The college currently has 145 staff members, including 131 full-time teachers. Among the full-time teachers, there are 15 with doctoral degrees, 57 professors and associate professors; 1 is a doctoral supervisor, 24 are master’s supervisors, 21 are part-time master’s supervisors, and 10 or more are part-time professors and visiting professors. Over 90% of the full-time teachers have overseas study or training experience. Currently, there are over 140 graduate students and over 1,200 undergraduate students. The college has 4 teaching departments (divisions): English Department, Japanese Department, Business English Department, and Public Foreign Language Teaching Department.
Academic platforms: The college has established research institutions and academic teams such as “Hubei Province Higher Education English Language Learning Demonstration Center”, “Changjiang University Translation Research Center”, “Jingchu Culture Foreign Translation and Communication Research Team”, “Basic Education (English) Collaborative Innovation Team”, “Subject English Education Center”, “MTI (Master of Translation and Interpreting) Center”, “International Language Service Center”, and “Student Subject Competition Center”; it also has practical teaching venues such as translation (written translation) training rooms, simultaneous interpretation training rooms, business English simulation training rooms, Japanese scenario laboratories, and Sunshine Bookstore.
Research Achievements: The college has established stable research directions in translation studies, foreign language studies and applied linguistics, as well as foreign literature and cultural studies. Among these, translation studies is the distinctive and advantageous direction. The college has achieved remarkable research results. In the past five years, the college’s teachers have published over 1,000 papers in provincial-level and above academic journals, including over 150 in core and authoritative journals. They have also published over 30 monographs, translations, and textbooks. The college has been awarded over 30 projects, including 9 national social science foundation projects and 4 major provincial-level scientific research and teaching research projects. Several college teachers have won awards in provincial teaching competitions. The college has received the third prize of the Hubei Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award and the second prize of the Hubei Provincial Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award.
Personnel training: The college has established a “five-in-one” educational model featuring “professionalization of discipline competitions, specialization of student associations, systematization of student activities, individualization of student development, and branding of practical education”. In recent years, the college has received numerous honors in areas such as the best organization of discipline competitions, the implementation of mental health education activities, and practical education. There are over 200 students from the college who have won awards in national and provincial competitions such as “National College Students’ English Competition”, “Foreign Language Press Cup National English Speech Contest”, “Foreign Language Press Cup National College Students’ English Debate Contest”, “Chinese National Japanese Speech Contest”, “Chuangqing Youth” National College Students’ Entrepreneurship Competition, “Hubei Province Foreign Language Translation Competition”, etc. The college actively promotes “Sunshine Culture” and has been honored as “Advanced Base Unit for Ideological and Political Education in Hubei Province” and “Advanced Base Party Committee of Yangtze University”, and has won the first prize for “Outstanding Achievements in Campus Culture Construction of Colleges and Universities” from the Ministry of Education. The “Sunshine Train” Youth Volunteer Association of the college has been established for 30 years. Over the years, it has organized more than 10,000 volunteers to carry out volunteer activities in communities, schools, and enterprises, and has received awards such as “Nomination for China’s Top Ten Outstanding Youth Volunteers”, “Top Ten Youth Volunteers for Public Welfare in Hubei Province”, “Advanced Collective for the Construction of Hope Homes for Left-Behind Children”, and has been rated as an “Outstanding Team for Summer Social Practice of College Students in Hubei Province” for two consecutive years from 2022 to 2023, and has been selected as the “Ben Yu Volunteer Service Team” for 2023.
Cooperation and Exchange In terms of school-enterprise cooperation, the college has established cooperative education and talent cultivation programs with over 10 primary and secondary schools as well as educational training institutions, and with more than 30 enterprises and institutions. The college also conducts cooperation and exchanges with over 10 universities in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia. Year-round, students and teachers are sent to these countries for study and exchange activities.
