[14][15] It was proposed by the then Premier Zhou Enlai to the State Council and the establishment of Beijing International Studies University was given the highest priority.

[16] A report for the establishment of BISU was subsequently presented and approved at the State Council in March and later in August, the land where the university has maintained the presence of its main site was granted.

[2] The original curriculum framework of the university was built upon its core units in foreign languages, in addition to Chinese literature, arts and philosophy, international/domestic relations, political economy and physical education.

It offered degree programs for 14 foreign languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Japanese, Albanian, Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Serbian and Vietnamese.

[31] The move was part of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan of the university, intending to endorse greater academic autonomy, take advantage of its heritage in tourism-related subjects and thus to effectively position itself in respond to the changes in the marketplace.

It houses the main teaching facilities and student amenities, and benefits from excellent public transport links with access to metro subway line 6 and 8T.

It owns an independently run Hospitality Institute in Daxing and has two branch colleges, one at the boundary between Fengtai and Haidian Districts, and one on the outskirts between the inner city and the County of Miyun.

[61] The central campus boasts five major teaching buildings and four auditoriums, six student halls of residence, a comprehensive learning hub and the university library.

Full meals and light fare are available at two dining halls and five specialty restaurants, in addition to three corner stores offering snacks and drinks.

A pharmacy and an ICBC bank branch are located at the North Entrance, opposite to the Tian-Ke-Long shopping mall on the other side of the road.

Separated by the Jingtong Expressway from the central campus, it is centered on a peaceful site along the Tonghui River and provides housing facilities for most of the undergraduate and postgraduate students.

[66][67] As of March 2013, the university has held conferences and seminars on feasibility analysis of the project, with regard to the 2013—2020 Outline of National Tourism and Leisure released by the State Council in February.

[68][69] A Discipline in the Beijing International Studies University is a broad administrative concept for categorising related academic units.

[47] Equipped with its three research affiliates, i.e. Center for Strategic Planning, Center for Theoretical Research and Center for Industry Consulting, the Institute cooperates extensively with the National Tourism Administration, local authorities and key industry players, contributing to around 20 provincial and municipal industry development projects including those of the renowned tourism cities of Sanya, Haikou and Zhangjiagang, in addition to more than 50 executive and feasibility reports on national resorts districts, national nature reserve areas and ecotourism destinations, such as the Lake Tai Resort in Suzhou, the Changbai Mountains Natural Reserve in Jilin, and the Pagsum Lake Ecotourism Area in Tibet.

[87] The center is one of the first BJPOPSS-accredited research institutions and is positioned as the government's think tank, which facilitated the city's tourism planning and development during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

[104] It is a research and consulting institution primarily specialized in studies on mass media and cross-platform convergence, and cultural diplomacy development.

[108] It is to conduct comprehensive studies on the Arab world, reaching out into topics including politics, economics, culture, arts, history, social conditions, religion and humanities; the research force of the center is primarily drawn from research fellows and academic staff of the Department of Arabic Studies,[107] joint by multidisciplinary professionals[109] and the Distinguished Experts, Li Shaoxian, VP of the top-ranked Asian think tank China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations,[110][111] and Liu Zhentang, former Chinese Ambassador to the Middle East.

[112] According to the university president, Zhou Lie, the center is positioned to be both the think tank and the intelligence unit in the fields of academics, personnel development, decision-making consulting and international communication.

[115] Based on comparative research of national/regional profiles, the Center mainly focuses on opinion tracking, public diplomacy studies and the development of international cultural communication.

[122][123] It also seeks collaboration with the industry and international organisations, and is supported by CIUTI and the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration.

[58][59] In 2013, to strengthen the partnership a step further, the Training Center for China Translation Industry (Chinese: 中国翻译行业人才培训基地), another TAC-affiliated organisation was also established at BISU.

[128] For the academic year 2013–2014, BISU is one of the only two Beijing-based universities (altogether eight across the nation) entrusted by China Scholarship Council to provide foundation programs to international undergraduate students.

[132][xiii] In addition to the government incentives, the university has established its own merit-based International Scholarships and all the overseas students at BISU are equally entitled to apply.

Besides, in recent years, organisations on leadership development and community engagement has shown phenomenal growth at BISU, especially the AIESEC, the Association for Green Environments and the Warm Hope Volunteering.