西安外国语大学是新中国最早建立的4所外语院校之一，是西北地区唯一的一所主要外语语种齐全的普通高校。1951年，经中央人民政府教育部批准，由兰州大学文学院俄文系、西北大学外国语文系俄文组、俄文专修科合并组建了西安外国语大学的前身——西北俄文专科学校。1952年，中共西北局党校俄文班并入西北俄文专科学校，学校开始招生。1958年更名为西安外国语学院。1979年开始招收研究生，1986年经国务院学位委员会批准，正式成为硕士学位授权单位。2006年经教育部批准，学校更名为西安外国语大学。2011年被陕西省人民政府列为“十二五”期间重点建设的高水平大学。2013年1月，经国务院学位委员会批准成为博士学位授予单位，获得外国语言文学一级学科博士学位授予权。2014年经人力资源与社会保障部和全国博士后管委会批准设立博士后科研流动站。经过60多年的建设和发展，学校已实现了由单科外语院校向突出外语教育和国外人文社会科学研究特色，以人文学科为主体，社会学科、管理学科和理学学科协调发展的多学科外国语大学的转变，是国家西部重要的外语人才培养基地，在西北地区的外语教育教学和研究领域发挥着不可替代的作用。
学校总占地面积1593亩，建筑面积81.15万平方米。学校办学基础设施完善，教学设备先进，多媒体网络教室、语言实验室、计算机实验室、同声传译室、模拟导游实验室、新闻采编实验室等现代化设施齐全。先进的卫星接收系统可接收不同语种国家电视节目。图书馆实行计算机管理，并设有大型电子学术期刊文献库。2009年2月，学校被授予省级“文明校园”。
学校现有35个学院（部）等教学机构，具有外国语言文学一级学科博士点，外国语言文学、中国语言文学、工商管理、教育学4个一级学科硕士点，13个二级学科博士点，59个二级学科硕士点，是翻译硕士、汉语国际教育硕士、旅游管理硕士、会计硕士、新闻传播硕士、教育硕士专业学位培养单位，开设47个本科专业，7个辅修专业，覆盖文学、经济学、管理学、法学、教育学、理学、艺术学7个学科门类，与国外9所大学联合培养博士研究生。外国语言文学一级学科为陕西省普通高校哲学社会科学特色学科，英语语言文学、法语语言文学、德语语言文学为陕西省重点学科；英语专业为国家级专业综合改革试点，英语、俄语、法语、旅游管理、翻译等5个专业为国家级特色专业，会计学(ACCA)和旅游管理(英语)、工商管理（CIMA）、金融学、人文地理与城乡规划专业为省级专业综合改革试点，英语、德语、法语、俄语和日语等5个专业为陕西省名牌专业，英语、俄语、法语、西班牙语、旅游管理、翻译、德语、会计学（ACCA方向）、日语等9个专业为陕西省特色专业；英语写作为国家级精品课程，英语精读、英语写作、英语翻译、法语精读、基础日语、德语精读、英语模拟导游、俄语翻译、英国文学、英语视听说、中国文化解说、管理学、法国文学史、翻译与实践、国际贸易与实务、商务英语写作等16门课程为省级精品课程；财务会计被评为国家级双语教学示范课程，财务会计、国际商法等2门课程被评为省级双语教学示范课程；“英语写作”被评为国家级精品资源共享课，“财务会计”、“商务分析”、“旅游学概论”、跨文化人力资源管理、金融学、国际贸易实务、经济地理学、人文地理学、城市规划原理、外语教师教育ESP课程、旅游地理学等11门课程被评为省级精品资源共享课；“应用型翻译人才培养模式创新实验区”被评为国家级人才培养模式创新实验区，国际商务、应用型翻译、国际旅游、国际化外语教师教育、国际会计、国际化应用型金融人才和国际工商管理(CIMA)等7个人才培养模式创新实验区被评为省级人才培养模式创新实验区；法语文学与翻译教学团队为国家级教学团队，法语文学与翻译、中外旅游文化、国际商务、翻译、英语写作、工商管理类主干课程、旅游法理论与实务、工商管理（CIMA）、金融学（CFA）国际化创新、国际贸易双语、区域旅游与城乡社区规划、旅游业运营管理等12个教学团队为省级教学团队。“翻译专业教学模式研究、创新与实践” 、“国际化商务人才培养模式创新与实践”获得陕西省教学成果奖特等奖。学校与环球时报在线（北京）文化传播有限公司合作建立文学实践教育基地先后获批成为国家级、省级大学生校外实践教育基地，与西安百事可乐饮料有限公司合作建立的管理学实践教育基地获批省级大学生校外实践教育基地。学校是非通用语提前批次招生院校、推荐优秀本科生免试攻读硕士研究生院校和接收保送生资格院校。现有博士研究生、硕士研究生、本专科生、外国留学生及各类培训学生2.4万余人。
学校科研实力强，设有欧美文学研究中心、外国语言学及应用语言学研究中心、陕西旅游研究院、人文地理研究所等31个学术和研究机构，欧美文学研究中心、外国语言学及应用语言学研究中心为陕西高校哲学社会科学重点研究基地。学校还与中国教育国际交流协会合作共建国际教育交流研究中心，形成了较为完整并具有一定规模的外语及跨学科科研体系，承担了一批国家级、省部级及外国文化部资助的科研项目，出版了高质量的大型辞书、专著、译著、论文和教材。学校创办的《外语教学》、《人文地理》、《西安外国语大学学报》等学术刊物是在国内外学术界具有一定影响的中国人文社会科学和中国地理学核心期刊，其中《外语教学》、《人文地理》杂志连续多年入选CSSCI来源期刊，《西安外国语大学学报》为CSSCI扩展版来源期刊。2014年，《外语教学》、《人文地理》获评“中国国际影响力优秀学术期刊”和“中国最具国际影响力学术期刊”。
学校坚持发挥自身优势，广泛开展国际学术交流，先后与国（境）外179所大学和教育机构建立了友好合作关系。。学校先后被教育部确定为富布莱特项目定点院校、接收中国政府奖学金项目来华留学生委托培养单位。与100多所国外大学开展联合培养博士、硕士、学士“双校园”项目，开辟了美国、新加坡、泰国、法国和英国等海外实习基地。学校积极响应国家建设丝绸之路经济带战略，成立了中亚学院，专门开展中亚国家留学生教育。学校在美国、哈萨克斯坦、阿根廷和奥地利建立了3所孔子学院、1所孔子课堂。2012年，经国家汉办批准设立汉语国际推广多语种基地（西安）。学校与美国洪堡州立大学合作创办了西外洪堡学院，与法国巴黎摩达尔时装艺术设计学院合作创办了西外巴黎时装艺术设计学院；与英国特许公认会计师公会、管理会计师公会合作开办了ACCA教改班、CIMA教改班、CFA教改班。韩国文化院、德国歌德学院、美国普城英语集团分别在学校设立了“世宗学堂”、“歌德语言中心”、“秦苏珊英语中心”，学校还与俄罗斯新西伯利亚国立技术大学共建俄语语言文化中心。此外，学校还设有教育部出国留学人员培训部、国家留学基金委留学预备教育中心、中国（教育部）留学服务中心留学培训基地。
学校着力提高人才培养质量，取得了明显效果。西外毕业生以“外语功底扎实，交际能力强，综合素质高，适应工作快，敬业爱岗，踏实肯干，有发展潜力”而深受用人单位欢迎，毕业生就业率连续多年保持在较高水平。学校志愿者团体积极服务社会经济文化发展，大学生参加了北京奥运会、上海世博会、西安世界园艺博览会、深圳世界大学生运动会、南京青奥会、欧亚经济论坛等重大活动的志愿者工作，学校志愿者总队被授予“中国百个优秀志愿服务集体”等多项荣誉。为适应新世纪社会发展和经济建设的需要，学校将紧抓国家高等教育大发展和西部大开发的历史机遇，“立足陕西，服务西北，辐射全国，面向世界”，坚持走开放式、国际化办学道路，不断深化教学改革，改善办学条件，提高教育教学质量，为建设特色鲜明的高水平大学而努力奋斗！
Established in 1952 with the name of Northwest Russian College, Xi’an International Studies University (XISU) is the only university in northwest China conducting a complete range of foreign language programs. It was renamed as Xi’an Foreign Languages University in 1958. In 1979, the University started taking in postgraduate students. In 1986, with the authorization of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, it acquired the right to grant master’s degrees. In February 2006, upon the approval of the Ministry of Education, the University changed its name to Xi’an International Studies University.
Development over the past fifty-odd years has facilitated XISU’s transformation from a university focusing only on foreign language education to a teaching-research university with coordinated and balanced programs in international studies, humanities, social studies, management as well as natural sciences. XISU is now an important foreign languages education base, playing an irreplaceable role in foreign language teaching and research in western China and China as a whole.
The University covers an area of 262 acres, with a floor space of 679,000 square meters. It is well equipped with advanced teaching devices like multimedia network classrooms, language laboratories, computer clusters, laboratories for simultaneous interpretation, mock guided tour laboratories and laboratories for news editing. With an advanced satellite receiving system, students in XISU can watch television programs broadcast in different languages. Our computerized library offers access to an extensive digital database of academic journals.
Altogether, the university now has 27 faculties and departments, 39 undergraduate programs plus 7 minor programs covering literature, economics, management, law, education and natural science. It also independently trains candidates of MTI and MTCSOL and PhD candidates in conjunction with three overseas universities.
XISU has a reasonable quantity of provincial and national key subjects and outstanding courses. It houses a National Experimental Base for the Innovation of the Educational Model of Professional Translators and Interpreters, as well as a Research Center for Euro-American Language and Literature, which is a key research base at the provincial level.
XISU can grant early admission to high school students planning to learn uncommonly-used languages, and recommend excellent undergraduate students to pursue further studies for a master’s degree. We have a total of 24,000 students, including master degree candidates, undergraduates, junior college students and international students as well as short-term trainee students. We take education quality as our first priority, and have set up effective systems for teaching assessment, quality education assessment and teaching quality monitoring. Thanks to this, we have won favorable comments and recognition from the expert teams of the Ministry of Education in several evaluation projects.
With 24 academic and research institutions for foreign languages, human geography and international exchanges, we have formed a complete interdisciplinary research system, undertaken a series of national, provincial and foreign-sponsored research programs, and published dictionaries, treatises, translations, theses and textbooks. The academic journals of XISU, namely Foreign Language Education, Journal of Xi’an International Studies University and Human Geography, enjoy a remarkable reputation both at home and abroad. Among these, Foreign Language Education and Human Geography are listed as 2008 to 2009 CSSCI source journals.
We attach great importance to extensive international exchanges and have established cooperative relations with 118 overseas universities and educational institutions. We participate in the Fulbright Program, receive international students with scholarships from the Chinese government, and carry out “two-campuses” programs with 77 universities in 21 countries including Australia, Japan, France, Spain and Canada, for the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Besides, we have helped establish two Confucius Institutes in Kazakhstan and Argentina, built XISU-Humboldt Institute with California’s Humboldt State University, founded XISU Paris in Fashion Art Design Institute with Paris MOD’art Fashion Art Design Institute, established Sejong Institute with the support of the Korean Cultural Institute, the Korean Embassy in China and the Korean Consulate General in Xi’an, and set up XISU Goethe Language Center with Goethe Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany. We also have three training bases in America, Singapore and Britain. In the past six years, we have sent altogether 1,681 students to study or work abroad.
We provide training services for people who want to pursue further studies abroad. During the past thirty years, we have organized 55 programs to help over 86,000 people go overseas. Among them are established scholars, college presidents and industrialists. In December 2007, in cooperation with the Princeton English Group, we set up Susan Chyn English Center, and in March 2008, a training base for those who want to study abroad with the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (the Ministry of Education).
XISU pays keen attention to education quality and has remarkable achievements in this respect. In 2008, a volunteer group of 454 teachers and students from XISU worked for Beijing Olympic Games. Their service was well received by domestic and foreign visitors as well as by Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. The volunteer contingent of XISU has won national honors for their hard work. Graduates from XISU are welcomed by employers for their diligence, flexibility, good language proficiency, remarkable communicative competence and high overall quality. We have maintained an employment rate of over 90% for undergraduate students, and over 95% for postgraduate students. In the 2009 List for the Employability of Chinese Universities, XISU earned a highly satisfactory ranking.
To further adapt ourselves to economic and social development in the new century, XISU will take the opportunities brought by the Western Development Campaign and the general development of higher education in China to intensify its efforts in teaching reform and in the improvement of teaching facilities and education quality so as to forge an even brighter future for itself.
