Beijing Foreign Studies University

Beijing Foreign Studies University was founded in 1941 and is China's oldest and most prestigious foreign languages institution. It teaches 67 languages across 13 schools, with 73 undergraduate programmes. Its position in Chinese public life is unusual and worth knowing. The university has traditionally trained Chinese diplomats, and more than 400 serving or former ambassadors are graduates. For a Kazakh applicant interested in diplomacy, international relations or translation, that network is the substantive argument for it. It maintains a School of Russian, which matters for a Kazakh applicant who already works in Russian. A degree combining Russian, Chinese and English from the institution that trains Chinese diplomats is a specific and marketable combination in Central Asia. One practical caution: campus accommodation is reported as not guaranteed and allocated first come, first served.