School of Southeast Asian Studies

School of Southeast Asian Studies

School of Southeast Asian Studies of Guangxi Minzu University is a college spun off from School of Foreign Studies in November 2014. The earliest programs of this college have a history of more than 60 years. In 2001, the college was listed in the first batch of National Training Bases of Non-general Languages for Undergraduate Education by the Ministry of Education of China. In 2006, it was designated by the CPC Guangxi Committee as the training base for translation professionals of Southeast Asian Languages, a talent highland for Guangxi to promote the construction of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. Since its establishment, the college has made great progress in education through the concerted efforts of all staff and students under the leadership of the Party Committee of Guangxi Minzu University. In 2021, the college was rated as one of China’s Advanced Groups in Textbook Construction by the Ministry of Education. In the same year, the Party committee of the college was awarded the title of the Advanced Primary-level Party Organization by the Education Working Committee of the CPC Guangxi Committee, and the college was listed in the first batch of pioneer units of Party Building in colleges and universities of Guangxi in the new era, successfully passing the inspection and evaluation in 2023. In 2022, the college ranked one of the Most Outstanding Units in Women Activity awarded by the Women's Federation of Guangxi. In 2023, the project “Constructing the Party Building through Learning, Thinking and Translating to Promote Full Scale Education” was awarded the second batch of demonstration units (Class A) for comprehensive reform in Full Scale Education in colleges and universities of Guangxi.

In education planning, School of Southeast Asian Studies aims at training international and innovative professionals with solid foundation in studies of languages and cultures of ASEAN countries, reasonable knowledge structure, good quality of humanities, as well as strong ability in self-directed learning, thinking, innovation and cross-cultural communication, so as to meet the needs of development of Guangxi, China and ASEAN.

Currently, the college has 59 full-time Chinese faculty and staff, including 50 teachers, 17 with senior professional titles and 27 with PhDs (including PHD candidates). A total of 781 undergraduate students, 60 master students, 11 Chinese doctoral students and 7 overseas doctoral students are pursuing their education in this college. The undergraduate program adopts the “2 + 0.5 + 1.5” training mode, in which students of various majors would study in the target language countries in the fifth semester.

School of Southeast Asian Studies now offers undergraduate programs in languages of seven ASEAN countries, namely Vietnamese, Lao, Thai, Cambodian, Burmese, Indonesian and Malaysian. The college has master's programs under 5 directions, namely Asian and African Languages and Literature, Thai Translation, Thai Interpretation, Vietnamese Translation and Vietnamese Interpretation. There is also a doctoral program under the subject of Foreign Languages and Literature. In 2005 and 2006, Vietnamese and Lao programs were successively approved as top-quality programs in Guangxi. In 2007, the program cluster of Southeast Asian languages was listed in the development projects for feature programs (Class II). In 2011, the Vietnamese program was approved as a construction project for feature programs and curriculum integration of colleges and universities in Guangxi, and in 2013, it was listed in the first batch of comprehensive reform pilots of undergraduate programs in Guangxi under the Undergraduate Teaching Project launched by the Ministry of Education of China. In 2014, the programs of Vietnamese, Lao, Burmese and Indonesian were listed in the development projects for advantageous and feature programs of colleges and universities in Guangxi. In 2019, Vietnamese and Thai undergraduate programs were listed in the development projects of the first-class undergraduate program. In terms of discipline construction, the course Asian and African Languages and Literature was designated as a key discipline in Guangxi in 2003. At present, the principle of Foreign Languages and Literature in this collge is listed in the first-class disciplines in Guangxi.

All of the full-time teachers have received different forms of further education in Southeast Asian countries. At present, young and middle-aged teachers are the main forces in the college. The staff are committed to teaching reform and have made remarkable achievements. In 2005, as a teaching reform project of higher education in the new century, the project Open Training Mode for Professionals of Non-general Foreign Languages in Undergraduate Education, which was based on the “3 + 1” training mode (three years in China and one year in target language country), won the first prize of Teaching Achievement Award of Guangxi and the second prize of Teaching Achievement Award of China, marking the first time that a project on non-general foreign language was given a prize of teaching achievement award in China. More than 10 projects have been approved as education reform projects at the provincial and ministerial levels. Two projects won the first prize and one project won the second prize of Teaching Achievement Award of Guangxi. To meet the needs of professional training, the teaching staff have published dozens of cutting-edge and high-quality textbooks for non-general language teaching that reflect the discipline advantages and characteristics of Guangxi Minzu University in the past decades. Compared with similar teaching materials in China, the textbooks compiled by the staff in School of Southeast Asian Studies stood out in quality, and most of them have been awarded prizes of outstanding social science research achievements, outstanding research achievements on non-general foreign languages and outstanding teaching achievements at the school level, provincial level and national level. In 2010, the Vietnamese teaching team was rated as the outstanding teaching team of colleges and universities in Guangxi.

The staff of the college strive to carry out researches on the languages, literature, culture and national circumstance of ASEAN countries. In recent years, 10 research projects have been sponsored at the national level; about 10 projects have gained sponsor at the provincial and ministerial levels; and more than 10 academic books and 60 translation works have been published. With language advantages, the staff have been actively implementing the initiative of Chinese Culture Going Global and striving to tell Chinese stories in international exchanges. Through the translation of Chinese cultural classics and books publicizing China, the teaching team has made unique contributions to the internationalization of Chinese culture, the exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries, the promotion of People-to-People Connectivity, as well as the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. The translation projects participated by the staff have been listed in the Belt and Road series of Library of Chinese Classics, the Wisdom of the East series, the Keywords to Understand Chinese series and the Zhuang Classics series, which have had a great impact at home and abroad, and have been highly recognized by the leaders and peer experts of ASEAN countries.

The college has been providing language services and voluntary services in important international events for decades. Since 2003, more than 3000 teachers and students have been sent to offer translation, liaison and volunteer services for hundreds of international cultural exchange activities, including China-ASEAN Expo and its related activities, as well as high-level training courses for government leaders of ASEAN countries organized by the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, China Executive Leadership Academy Yan'an and other units. The professional and diverse social services have won the college a good reputation, which have further stimulated and motivated all teachers and students to provide more intellectual support for the exchanges and cooperation between China and ASEAN, and for building Nanning into an international city facing ASEAN. Guangxi Minzu University has now become the cradle of envoys for cultural exchanges between the people of China and ASEAN countries.

So far, more than 3400 students have graduated from the college and are working in various fields such as diplomacy, military, media, education, scientific research, finance, trade, tourism and so on. Many of them have served as translators or interpreters for leaders of China, and many have become the backbones and even mainstays in relevant fields, making due contributions to China's international cultural exchanges, as well as to local and national economic development in their own ways.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the teachers and students of all ethnic groups in School of Southeast Asian Studies will embark on a new journey of fully implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's major strategic requirements for Guangxi and the decisions of the Party Committee of Guangxi Minzu University. Continuously forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and focusing on the fundamental emphasis of morality education, all the teachers and students unite as one and are committed to the training of qualified personnel with comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness and aesthetics for socialist construction, so as to make greater achievements in the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.