China Education Daily reported ZISU’s unique road of development in a large coverage of four editions on Nov 25, which entitled “Develop Education in a Wonderful Way by Focusing on Foreign Languages Characteristics”
From 1955 to 2015, ZISU has developed from Zhejiang Teachers Training School to Zhejiang International Studies University in 60 years, from an adult education school to a university with foreign languages characteristics. During the 60 eventful years of hard struggle, ZISU has grabbed every opportunity to reform and innovate, to nurture characteristics and pursue excellence, ZISU proudly showed its outstanding performance in the tide of education reform.
In April of 2010, approved by the Ministry of Education, Zhejiang College of Education was restructured as Zhejiang International Studies University, which became the first university with characteristics of foreign languages of Zhejiang Province. For ZISUers, it is not only a change of name and structure, but also a rebirth-like change of educational thoughts and behaviors.
 Dare to Give up
 Strengthen and Reinforce Foreign Languages Major
How to transfer from an adult education college to a university with foreign language characteristics is the real problem confronted ZISU after changing name. The Party Committee of ZISU judged the situation to identify the orientation and mission of ZISU, and established a series of policies covering cultivation objects of students, emphasis of subject and discipline development and teaching and research resources allocation. ZISU adhered to the guide line of discipline transformation and focused on the construction of foreign languages majors. With great determination, ZISU revoked some majors which are divergent from the orientation of ZISU’s development, and at the same time ZISU established foreign languages majors and other majors which conforms the positioning and orientation of ZISU.
Among the 25 majors, foreign language and literature majors account for half, which developed from the original English majors to 12 majors, and covers 10 languages of English, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian, Korean and Germany. ZISU transformed and upgraded the reserved traditional majors in a bold and resolute way, and paid special attention to the integration of foreign language majors and non-foreign language majors. ZISU explored the compound talent training mode of “multi-languages mode” and “foreign language + professional knowledge mode” by a flexible set of majors and subjects and actively promote the foreign language and bilingual teaching of professional core courses, thus highlighted the characteristics of foreign languages. For example, tourism management major set up English direction and Spanish direction; applied Chemistry major set chemicals foreign trade direction, which provided different features to the same kind of professional talents. In just five years, the subject construction has achieved remarkable results. English major has been selected as a part of the advanced majors construction plan in “12th Five-Year Plan” of Zhejiang Province, and four majors are selected as emerging and unique majors of Zhejiang Province, which are Japanese, tourism management, international trade and economics and applied chemistry. At the same time, ZISU actively constructed subjects in a “multi-lingual, interdisciplinary and international” way. ZISU also optimized and reorganized its original provincial key disciplines of Chinese language, education management and applied chemistry and cultivate unique subject directions. After construction and cultivation, five disciplines of ZISU were listed as provincial key disciplines, which are foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, international trade and tourism, Chinese language and cultural international communication, curriculum and teaching theory and applied chemistry. ZISU has formed a new pattern of subjects and disciplines, among which foreign languages majors being the main body, and different disciplines developed in a cooperative way. ZISU’s effort to develop in a highly characteristic way was highly praised by the leaders and the whole society. Many important media nationwide has conducted some special reports on ZISU’s education reform. The leaders of Zhejiang Province have given clear instructions to ZISU’s practice: “ZISU’s development ideas should be praised, and ZISU should be determined to strengthen and refine its reform and development.”
 Embrace Talents in a Broad Way
 Explore the Internationalization of Faculty Construction
The reconstruction of ZISU is the transformation of its faculty. According to the need of new subjects and reformation of old subjects, ZISU adhered to both cultivation and importation, ZISU explored a new way to upgrade and transform its faculty by enhancing the international level. ZISU actively imports foreign language talents and high level oversea talents, and invest more than 10 million yuan in faculty construction every year. ZISU gave greater policy tilt to import much needed talents and doctors and oversea doctors, and ZISU also set “Seagull Plan” to focus on importing oversea talents. In recent two years, ZISU imported 65 doctors at home and abroad, more than 30 people have 6 months or longer oversea experience. The number of imported doctors has increased by 55%, and the number of oversea doctors increased by 175%. Through these efforts, some disciplines of ZISU have been greatly improved, for example the proportion of professors in the English subject is as high as 32%. Russian discipline invited Prof. Li Yanling, the academician of Russian Academy of Sciences to join in, and imported many professors and doctors to form a discipline team, which made it one of the strongest disciplines in Zhejiang and influential nationwide.
 ZISU also relies on its advantage of foreign languages and international cooperative projects to promote the transformation and development of its original teachers. ZISU vigorously implemented the “Roc Plan” to promote the internationalization of its faculty, and gave great support in financial aid, performance-related pay and workload reduction to those teachers sent abroad for training and study, with reference to those send abroad by CSC. In each recent year, quite a number of teachers are selected to world prestigious universities to train and study, such as Harvard, Cambridge and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Compared with that in the year of 2010, the number of foreign language teachers increased by 88%, and teachers with 6 months or longer oversea experience increased by 286% in the year of 2015. A reasonably structured and high-level faculty team which meets the goal and orientation of ZISU are rapidly gathering and growing. In recent five years, ZISU teachers undertook 153 provincial and ministerial level and above research topics, including 24 national fund projects, and published 1385 papers and 100 monographs and translation works, and achieved 11 provincial and ministerial level and above teaching and research awards.
 Practical Education
 Take Knowledge and Teaching into Practice
Talent training characteristics is the final goal of ZISU’s characteristic development. ZISU takes “Virtue, Perseverance, Erudition, Practically” as the university motto, and unequivocally set cultivation of responsible, honest and polite application talents with “international vision and patriotism” as its education objective, and tries to achieve this goal by its colorful and distinctive teaching and practice.
ZISU focus on educational practice, increases the proportion of practical teaching in the talent training scheme by integrating the first, second and third classes, and established more than 180 practical bases, including oversea study bases and Chinese teaching transnational bases located in the U.S. and Mexico and other countries. ZISU encourages teachers to take the society as the classroom, like taking some important international conferences and activities as the platform for students to practice, such as World Internet Conference, World Congress of Cultures and The World Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Convention, and try to make students get involved to undertake the work. In this way, students could get a better understanding of the worldly affairs, the nation and Zhejiang Province, and set up correct world outlook, outlook on life and value judgment, thus cultivating the good quality of responsibility, honesty and etiquette. There are 2376 ZISU international volunteers, who have been praised and awarded many times by related provincial and national departments due to their “high foreign language level, comprehensive quality, perseverance and good communication ability”. During the first World Internet Conference in the previous year, ZISU volunteer team was awarded “advanced group” by Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs and Zhejiang Provincial Government. Wang Zhen, the Italian major who was rated as the most beautiful college student volunteers of Hangzhou, attended international volunteer service for more than 500 hours in recent two years, and became the “little translator” favored by oversea guests. ZISU’s high-quality international volunteer service has become a distinctive feature of its talent training. 
Innovative Development
Characteristic Development Has Achieved Initial Success
ZISU’s characteristic development has attracted the attention of the whole society, thus foreign language majors are favored by a number of students and their parents. The enrollment expanded from Zhejiang to 15 provinces (autonomous regions), and expanded to 13 countries, including Russia, Greece, Spain, Italy and Kazakhstan. In 2014, English major and English (normal) major became the first-batch major to enroll students in Zhejiang Province, and translation (English & Chinese interpretation) major began its “Trinity enrollment”. In 2015, ZISU began to enroll students form Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; In Sichuan and Tibet, ZISU was listed as the first-batch university to enroll students, in other provinces the admission scores and rankings reached a new height as well.
After five years’ relentless effort, ZISU students’ global horizons, comprehensive quality and employment competitiveness are all continually improving and enjoyed a great advantage in foreign languages. In the year of 2014, ZISU students’ CET-4 and CET-6 average score ranked 46th in China. In recent years, ZISU students have achieved repeated success in many competitions, such as National English Competition for College Students, National Interpreting Contest, “Challenge Cup” Undergraduate Contest, “CCTV Cup” English Public Speaking Contest, China Japanese Essay Contest and College Students Debate Competition. Ten English graduates of the first grade were admitted by world prestigious universities, such as Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania and Durham University. In this year, the first graduates of the Japanese major were invited to sign a job contract by many multinational corporations even before their graduation. ZISU graduates’ employment competitiveness and employment rate ranked top in Zhejiang Province. ZISU students have great entrepreneurial ability. For example, a 2015 graduate Qu Chunxu, who combined his expertise to create an innovative project, has attracted the attention of the major leaders of Zhejiang Province. Besides, a number of ZISU students and their entrepreneurship stories have been reported by many media in Zhejiang province.
The Party Secretary described ZISU’s vision proudly: “By the year of 2018, ZISU will initially become a multi-disciplinary university with distinctive feature of foreign languages and first-class education. At that time, ZISU will basically realize subject transformation and enjoy a significant improvement in international level, and pass the undergraduate teaching assessment in high grade. By the year of 2023, ZISU will completely become a multi-disciplinary university with distinctive feature of foreign languages, significant international characteristics and first-class education, whose main body subjects will rank advanced nationwide, and become a master degree granting unit. By the year of 2035, ZISU will transform from a college to a university with core competiveness, high international level and will come out at the top of similar institutions nationwide.” At the present, ZISU is vigorously implementing three strategies of “branding, internalization and clustering” to further promote its development and head for a multi-disciplinary university with distinctive feature of foreign languages and first-class education.