Beijing Foreign Studies University was proposed by Premier Zhou Enlai and established on the basis of the former Xinhua Foreign Language Cadre School. Beijing Foreign Studies University is one of the first batch of undergraduate colleges in China and a key university in Beijing jointly established by the central government and Beijing.

It is led by the National Cultural Liaison Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the Ministry of Education and the National Tourism Administration. In February 2000, it was managed by the Beijing Municipal People's Government.

As of 20 19, 1 1, the school has a graduate school and 17 teaching units. The school has 44 undergraduate majors, 28 two disciplines master's degree authorization points, 6 professional master's degree authorization points, 5 first-class discipline master's degree authorization points and 2 joint doctoral degree points.

The school has nearly 10,000 students, including more than 6,200 undergraduates, more than 30,000 graduate students, more than 700 international students and more than 10,000 perennial international students. There are nearly 1000 teachers and staff on board.