Tibetology Research College

The Tibetology Research School of the Central University of Nationalities

-- the Birthplace of Tibetology in the People’s Republic of China

The predecessor of the Tibetology Research School of the Central University of Nationalities was the Tibetan Language and Literature Teaching and Research Section. To meet the needs of liberating Tibet and other Tibetan inhabited areas peacefully, this section was founded by late Professor Yu Daoquan in 1951 under the guidance of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman Mao Zedong. The Central Institute of Nationalities was then established, incorporating the section and a training class for army and government officials. In the very beginning, this section was called the Tibetan Language and Literature Teaching and Research Group, and started the first class of Tibetan language in May of 1951. It was not upgraded to the Tibetan Language and Literature Teaching and Research Section until the 1970s. In 1981, to meet the needs of Tibetology research in China and abroad, the Tibetology Research Center of the Central University of Nationalities was then founded according to the direction of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. This was the first Tibetology Research Center in China. In 1993, to meet the requirements of opening and reforming in Tibetan inhabited areas and establishing the socialist market economic system, the teaching and research section of the Tibetan language and literature and the Tibetology Research Center were merged into the Tibetology Department of the Central University of Nationalities, but the name of the Tibetology Research Center was preserved. This was the first Tibetology department in China. Thereafter, the Tibetology research formed a new mode, that is, research pushed the development of teaching while teaching promoted the development of research. In June of 2000, considering the development of the west of China and the newest conditions of Tibetology research in China and abroad, the Tibetology Research School was founded on the basis of the former Tibetology Department and the Tibetology Research Center, which was part of the reform of teaching and research structures/organizations in CUN. The present Tibetology school is an important Tibetology teaching and research organization under which are the Tibetology Department and the Tibetology Center. This school includes three offices (the office for administrative affairs, the office for teaching affairs and the office for affairs of the Party and League), four teaching and research sections (the section of language and literature, the section of history and economics, the section of culture and philosophy, and the section of Tripitaka and its translation), a computer office and a library. Now the department has two majors. One is Tibetology; the other is a double-degree program of administration and Tibetology. This school has 22 teachers, including 6 professors, 4 doctoral supervisors, 6 associate professors, 4 doctors and 5 masters.

We were one of the first departments that enrolled students at the level of junior college, undergraduate and postgraduate. The recruitment of postgraduates started from the early days of the 1960s, forming a multi-layered structure of education. We have cultivated a large number of Tibetology talents and many of them have been renowned Tibetologists and high ranking officials giving a remarkable contribution to the stability, unity, development and construction of our homeland.

We have written a great number of original and high quality monographs in Chinese and Tibetan in the last 20 years, for instance, The Chronicles of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas, Tibet, an Inseparable Part of China, A Selection of Historical Material of Tibet as Part of China and others. Some of the books have won national prizes and some were awarded top prizes at the province or ministry level. In addition, we completed a number of research projects at the national, provincial or ministerial level, participated in the discussion and research on the Tibet question and made contributions to the decisions of the top national leaders.

Now the Tibetology Research School has two undergraduate majors, a Ph.D. degree program, a masters degree program on Anthropology (specifically Tibetology related). The teaching activities mainly consist of theories and practice. The theory part includes classroom teaching, self-study and homework, and guidance by answering students’ questions. Practice includes field work, thesis and oral defence, field work before graduation and investigation report.

The major courses of Tibetology for undergraduates include modern Tibetan language, Tibetan linguistics, Tibetan literature, Tibetan history, Tibetan religion, Tibetan culture, a general introduction to Tibetology, Marxist philosophy, Marxist studies of religion, translation theory and practice, selected Tibetan works in different dynasties. Graduate programs include branches such as classical Tibetan language, Tibetan history, Tibetan culture and Tibetan language.

The double-degree program of administration and Tibetology is offered for non-Tibetan students (with Han students as the majority). We have enrolled more than 20 grades of non-Tibetan students (with Han students as the majority) in the past 50 years, and have a relatively complete education plan, curriculum and series of textbooks, accumulating rich experience in teaching Tibetan to non-Tibetan students (especially Han students) and collecting a large number of teaching materials. The general principle of the course system and content for this program is based on the combination of classroom teaching and practice. Classroom teaching helps students master the basics of Tibetan, improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating between Tibetan and Chinese; field work in Tibet further improves students’ Tibetan language level and develops their real work capability in Tibet. By this teaching mode, non-Tibetan students are successfully trained to be talents with comprehensive capabilities, having a good command of the two languages, knowledge of Tibetan’s past and present, and the basics of administration.

The main courses for this program include: Tibetan Pinyin, Tibetan handwriting, Lhasa dialect, Tibetan reading, Tibetan listening, Tibetan grammar, selected Tibetan works, translation theory and practice, a general introduction to Tibetology, administration, public relations, statistics, ethnic theories and policies, Marxist view of religion, public management, politics, administrative law, and modern theories of leadership.

The research directions of the masters program in anthropology (specifically Tibetology) include: Tibetan language and literature, Tibetan culture and Tibetan history.

The students graduated from our school have a wide choices of jobs and are employed as civil servants, secretaries, teachers, broadcasters, journalists, editors, translators, researchers etc..

Under the guidance of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the wise leadership of the higher authorities, and with the efforts of the elder, middle aged and young faculty for nearly half a century, the Tibetology Research School in the Central University of Nationalities has gained distinct advantages in talented personnel and has achieved a leading position in Tibetology teaching and research in China. The subjects in the school, for instance, Tibetan history, Tibetan language and literature, history of Tibetan culture, history of Tibetan Buddhism, and Dunhuang Studies have a long history and have achieved widely influential results. Last but not least, the school has set a model for the Tibetology teaching and research in terms of system, content and methods, laying a modern standard for Tibetology research in China.