The history of the College of Foreign Languages (CFL) traces back to 1958 when its predecessor, the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Group of Kunming University of Agriculture and Forestry was founded. It later evolved into the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Office of Yunnan Agricultural University and then the YAU Foreign Language Department. In 2001 the College of Foreign Languages was established and began to enroll undergraduates in English major. Guided by the YAU ethos of “inspiring learners and nurturing integrity; pursuing studies with great sincerity” and CFL motto of “connecting China and the world; integrating arts and science”, we have prepared over 1600 graduates majoring in foreign languages. We employ 77 faculty members, including 5 professors, 15 associate professors, 1 province-honored Prominent Teacher, 1 University-honored Prominent Teacher and 1 University-honored Excellent Teacher.

The College consists of the English Department, the Southeast Asian Languages Department, the Undergraduate Foreign Language Teaching Department, the Graduate Foreign Language Teaching Department, and the MTI Education Center. The English Department has two majors: English and Translation, and the Southeast Asian Languages Department is composed of three majors: Vietnamese, Thai and Burmese. The College now owns 8 language labs, including 1 simultaneous interpreting room, 1 translation training lab, 2 virtual reality foreign language teaching rooms, 1 multimedia network classroom and 3 digital multimedia classrooms. We also provide students with a variety of online foreign language learning resources.

CFL is offering a master program of Translation and Interpretating (MTI), and 5 undergraduate programs of English, Vietnamese, Thai, Translation and Burmese. French and Japanese are taught as the second foreign languages. We are also responsible for the teaching of foreign languages (English, Japanese, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Lao, Burmese and Spanish) for undergraduate students as well as master and doctoral students. In 2010, CFL was listed as one of the first Pilot Units of College English Teaching Reform in Yunnan Province. In 2013, it was listed among the Model Institutions for South and Southeast Asian Languages Education in Yunnan Province. In 2019, our translation teaching team was awarded YAU Excellent Teaching Team. In 2021, English major was included in the provincial project for first-class major construction. At present, we have 1 provincial quality course, 1 provincial model course construction project for ideological and political education— Foreign Affairs Translation, together with a number of university-level teaching projects, including 2 teaching teams in the Huang Danian mode, 2 model courses, and 3 first-class undergraduate courses. We now have more than 1000 students on campus. Our graduates are mainly engaged in civil service, clerical work, translation, teaching, tourism and other jobs in government agencies, international organizations, multinational corporations, schools and enterprises. The year-end employment rate remains at high above 90%.

In recent years, our teachers have won many awards in the SFLEP Cup National College Foreign Language Teaching Competition, with two teachers winning the second prize and third prize respectively in the national finals, and many other teachers the provincial-level grand, first, second and third prizes. One teacher has been nominated as National Counselor of the Year and one teacher has been awarded as the Counselor of the Year in Yunnan province. Seven teaching achievements have won second and third prizes of the university. The students of the college have also made remarkable achievements in various competitions. One student won a provincial silver prize in the Internet Plus Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and one student won a national second prize and another won a national third prize in the national Final of the “21st Century Cup” English Speech Competition. Students of the college have successfully won the first, second and third prizes in “FLTRP Cup” National English Speech Contest, “FLTRP Cup” National English Major Debate Contest, and National Vietnamese Speech Contest for College Students.

Our faculty members have published more than 200 academic papers in the fields of language and culture studies, college foreign language teaching and practice, college foreign language teaching and testing, translation theory and practice, and literature appreciation. Their publications also include over 50 textbooks and academic works. They have also undertaken 1 national social science fund project and more than 40 provincial or university sponsored researches, participating in 5 research projects funded by Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture. We are the only institution among the universities in Yunnan province to participate in the demonstration of ideological and political education courses and the development of resource packages of Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Our endevor in this regard has received much credit.

The College employs foreign teachers from Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries. Every year, teachers are sent to the United Kingdom, the United States, Thailand and Vietnam as visiting scholars. At the same time, experts from home and abroad are invited to give lectures in the College. In addition, we carry out “3+1” joint education programs in Thai and Vietnamese majors with Chiang Mai University, Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Hanoi University and Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. Each year, Thai and Vietnamese major students are selected to study abroad in relevant universities for 10 months.