Guangdong Teachers College of Foreign Language and Arts (GTCFLA) was founded in 2001 through the merger of Guangdong Foreign Language Normal School and Guangdong Art Normal School established in 1978 and 1982 respectively. With the approval of Guangdong provincial government, it is a state-owned full-time institute of higher education with five-year primary and pre-school teacher education as its distinctive strengths.

Located in the traditional Wushan university area in Guangzhou, it comprises of Wushan Campus and Yanling Campus. GTCFLA offers 38 diploma programs among which English Education Program, Visual Arts Education Program, Music Education Program, Modern Education Technology Program and Pre-school Education (English) Program are accredited as the provincial model programs. There are 8,488 students studying in 11 departments: Department of Foreign Languages, Department of International Business, Department of Music, Department of Visual Arts, Department of Pre-school Education, Department of Information Technology, Department of Chinese Language and Culture, Department of Dance, Department of Ideological and Political Theory Teaching, Department of Basic Courses and School of Continuing Education. With distinctive features of humanities education and abundant education resources, it was granted A (Excellence) in the assessment of student cultivation project organized by the Ministry of Education in June, 2007.

The prestigious college has accumulated over 30 years of experience in teacher education especially in the disciplines of foreign languages, arts and information technology. Based upon the principle of “school-industry partnership and study-work interaction”, the college has established five groups of programs with distinctive features: teacher education, language and culture, art designing, performing and computer application. Two courses have been assessed and identified as the Elite Courses on the national scale, and six others, on the provincial scale. The college attaches great importance to teaching innovation and academic research. The staff undertook national and provincial scientific research projects. The college has won a number of prizes such as National Advanced School of Art Education, National Advanced Organization of Language Education, the Award of Higher Education and Teaching Achievement of Guangdong province for two sessions consecutively.

The college boasts a well-structured, dynamic and creative faculty of 339 full-time teachers including 19 professors and 102 associate professors. The number of teachers with Master’s or Doctor’s Degree amounts to 219. Twelve teachers have been honored as the Core Members of school academic research work in the Elite Cultivation Project of Guangdong province. The college has also cultivated 16 program leaders and 56 core teachers. There are also 9 international teachers working in the college. Some works of the teachers were collected by the Great Hall of the People, Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and Swiss National Museum .

The college boasts advanced facilities and favorable learning environment. The library holds a collection of more than 1,047,000 books. Two training centers sponsored by the central government and three education training centers sponsored by the provincial government were established. A number of professional examinations can be conducted in the college. It also boasts advanced classroom buildings, language laboratories, digital piano rooms, multimedia workshops etc.

With all-around competence, outstanding skills and strong adaptability, graduates are highly praised by their employers. The average employment rate reached 99.55 percent in the past three consecutive years. Over 99 percent of employers are satisfied with the graduates’ performance. The admission rate, registration rate and employment rate came out top among the colleges of its kind. The college actively promotes the education invigoration and culture development in Guangdong province. Having established a number of teacher training centers, it plays a significant role in teacher education and teacher development. With arts as one of the distinctive features, it has performed in such significant events as the 8th National Sports Meeting of College Students, the 8th Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Meeting, the 9th China Arts Festival and the 16th Asian Games.

The college has established communicative and cooperative relations to conduct exchange programs with various educational institutions and academic organizations such as East Texas Baptist University, Mississippi College, Leeds University, University of Dundee, University of Ulsan, Taiwan Chaoyang University of Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Credit Transfer Contracts with East Texas Baptist University and University of Dundee were signed to promote international communication and offer more opportunities for students to study aboard.

The college is going to further promote teacher education featuring with foreign languages and arts, along with the expansion of humanities programs. It is going to set up three training centers for preschool and primary teacher education, internationally-oriented graduates and talents of Lingnan Art Industry respectively. It is striving for its goal: to become a role model for colleges of its kind in Guangdong province and a first-class vocational school which plays a significant role in the arena of international communication.

(Statistics quoted are up till October, 2011)

https://www.gtcfla.net