International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship

About the university

Sichuan International Studies University (SISU), located in Chongqing, China, is a full-time public undergraduate institution under the administration of Chongqing Municipality. It is one of the first four foreign language institutions of higher education established in China. The university focuses on foreign language and literature studies, while also coordinating the development of disciplines such as literature, education, and economics, making it a multi-disciplinary foreign language university. It is a high-level new liberal arts construction university in Chongqing and a construction unit for internationalization characteristic universities in Chongqing. SISU was founded in 1950, originally as the Russian Language Training Corps of the Southwest Military and Political University of the People's Liberation Army. In January 1951, it was renamed the Russian Language Battalion attached to the Second Advanced Infantry School of the People's Liberation Army. In May 1953, the Southwest Russian Language College was established. In May 1959, it was expanded into Sichuan Institute of Foreign Languages. In March 1982, it became one of the first institutions in China authorized to confer bachelor's degrees. In 1986, it was approved as a master's degree-granting institution. In 1997, after Chongqing became a municipality directly under the central government, the university was placed under the leadership of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government. In April 2013, it was renamed Sichuan International Studies University. In the same year, it was approved as a doctoral degree-granting institution. In 2017, it was selected as a first-class discipline construction university in Chongqing. In 2019, it was approved to establish a postdoctoral research station. As of June 2024, according to the university's official website, the campus covers an area of 71 hectares, with a total of 1.3 million paper books in 22 languages and 1.85 million e-books. It has 22 teaching units, one affiliated middle school, and one affiliated primary school, offering 55 undergraduate programs. It has one postdoctoral research station, one first-level doctoral discipline authorization point, 13 second-level doctoral discipline authorization points, five first-level master's discipline authorization points, 19 second-level master's discipline authorization points, 10 professional master's degree authorization categories, and 49 professional master's degree authorization fields. The university has 1,354 faculty and staff members, with over 17,000 full-time students. SISU was founded in 1950 under the care and guidance of older-generation proletarian revolutionaries such as Deng Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng, and He Long. In March 1950, following the central government's directive on training Russian language cadres, the Southwest Military Region decided to establish the Russian Language Training Corps. In April, the Russian Language Training Corps was formally established in Chongqing Shandong. In January 1951, the Southwest Military and Political University was restructured into the Second Advanced Infantry School of the People's Liberation Army, and the Russian Language Training Corps was renamed the Russian Language Battalion, directly under the leadership of the school headquarters. In May 1952, students from the Guizhou Military Region's Russian Language Class arrived in Chongqing and were incorporated into the Russian Language Battalion. On May 21, 1953, the Southwest Russian Language College was officially established. In October 1954, the Southwest Higher Education Administration was dissolved along with the Southwest Military and Political Committee, and the college was placed under the leadership of the Central Ministry of Higher Education. On May 25, 1959, the Sichuan Provincial People's Committee decided to rename the Southwest Russian Language College as "Sichuan Institute of Foreign Languages," offering four-year Russian and English programs, and subsequently adding French and German programs. Guo Moruo inscribed the name for the institute. In May 1963, due to an increase in programs and enrollment, insufficient campus facilities led the Sichuan Provincial Higher Education Bureau to temporarily borrow the campus of the Beibei Xiemachang Agricultural Machinery School. The English Department was relocated for classes. In September, following the Ministry of Education's plan, Sichuan decided to establish Chongqing Foreign Language School, and the institute was designated as one of the 12 institutions of higher education to accept graduates from foreign language schools.