Continuing(Network) Education College

1. Brief Introduction:
At BLCU the College of Continuing Education and Network Education is the union of the former Continuing Education College and the former Network Education College. The college has four departments: the Department of Continuing Education, the Department of Network Education for Chinese Students, the Department of Distance Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and the Training Department. There are four offices in this college: the Administrative Office, the Teaching Affairs Office, the Students Office and the Admission Office.
The college now has 24 full-time teachers, and 68 part-time teachers employed from other institutions. The college staff members are young, energetic, and responsible. All full-time teachers have at least their MA degrees, some have obtained their doctorates and others are undertaking research for theirs. Most the teachers are lecturers or associate professors.
The college has a history of more than twenty years and - in recent years - the college has taken full advantage of the ideal environment of the international, multi-cultural community at Beijing Language and Culture University to provide degree and diploma programs as well as distance education for domestic and foreign students.

2. Major Features:
The characteristics of our college teaching and education system are:
2.1 A multi-disciplinary course syllabus
2.2 Flexible course-selecting system
2.3 Newly-designed credit system
2.4 Scientific assessment system
2.5 High quality-control system

3. Four departments:
3.1 Department of Continuing Education
The Department of Continuing Education provides degree programs for full-time and part-time adult learners. There are four majors: English, Chinese, Japanese, and Finance.
The degree programs include a two-year Associate program for high school graduates, a two or three-year Bachelor program for associate college graduates， and a four-year Bachelor program for high school graduates.
In the past two years, the department has reformed the courses and syllabus for adult learners, taking into consideration their special needs.
The credit system adopted by the college allows students flexibility in choosing courses, teachers and classes. The department website (http://cec.blcu.edu.cn) provides a platform for teachers and students to enhance efficiency. The department also arranges various extracurricular activities such as the ‘English Garden’, English Debating, Drama, Speech Competitions, and sporting activities to stimulate students’ broader interests in the learning process.

3.2. Department of Network Education for Chinese Students
The College of Network Education is one of the sixty-eight universities in China that was formally approved by the Ministry of Education to provide online education in September 2000. The Department of Network Education provides China-wide online education and subsidiary services for Chinese students.
Recently the program has increased to five majors: English, Chinese, Japanese, Finance, and Computer Science. The degree programs include a two-year Associate program for high school graduates, a two or three-year Bachelor program for associate college graduates， and a four-year Bachelor program for high school graduates.
The website （http://www.eblcu.net.cn/）is the platform for teachers and students in our department providing students’ online self-study programs, together with tutorials, BBS(an online forum for staff and students), and lectures by experts in each major. The distance education function of the College exploits the excellent teaching resources at BLCU and extends nationwide the important educational influence of BLCU.

NEC Nationwide
At present, there are 11 teaching centers around China: Tianjin, Shenzhen, Sichuan, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guanxi, Yunan, Shanxi, Huhehaote, Changsha, and Heilongjiang.

3.3. Department of Distance Teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language
The Department of Distance Teaching of Chinese is responsible for arranging the online courses of EBLCU, teaching administration, teaching service, website maintenance, and market development. It comprises the following divisions: Teaching Affairs Administration Office, Resource Development Office, and Market Development Office.

EBLCU (http://www.eblcu.net)
This is a professional teaching website providing distance degree and non-degree programs in TCFL (Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) worldwide. It has the unique distinction of being the only organization in China qualified to grant degrees in Chinese language and culture to foreign students via distance learning.

EBLCU Agents
Many agents have been engaged to enroll new students and a marketing network that may one day cover the globe is gradually taking shape. The students can login to the website at anytime to register, select and study courses, or take online exams. EBLCU provides different languages for the convenience of learners from different countries. So far, students from 44 countries and regions in the world enrolled to study Chinese via EBLCU, and more than ten thousand prospective students have registered at EBLCU to commence in the future.

3.4. BLCU Training Department
BLCU Training Department is a professional training organization ratified in 1992 by the Haidian Social Education Administration Office. BLCU Training Department, with its various programs, is attached to the Continuing Education College.

In the ten years since its establishment, the BLCU Training Department has conducted full-time or part-time specialized training programs for government departments such as the Ministry of Education, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, China National Tourism Administration, and the Administration of Cultural Heritage of Henan Province. In addition, it has conducted various short-term training or pilot training programs for English, Japanese, French, Korean, PETS (Public English Test System), CET-4, CET-6, TEM-4, TEM-8, Adult National Entrance Examination, and HSK.

With its vigorous administration and high-quality teaching, BLCU Training Department has established a good reputation and has won favorable comments and high praise from the trainees. For detailed information, please visit: http://cec.blcu.edu.cn.

4. Future Plan
In five years, the college plans to enroll 2500 students in the Department of Continuing Education, 10,000 students in the Department of Network Education for Chinese Students, 5,000 students in the Department of Distance Teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language, and 1,000 students in the Training Department.

New majors will be included in the syllabus: Art, and in the languages section, German and French. The college also plans to implement postgraduate programs and add areas of specialization for some majors. In this way, the college will develop into an educational unit with multi-discipline, multi-degree and multi-purpose features.