Initially founded in 1972, the College of Foreign Languages and Literature (“thecollege” for short) of Chongqing Normal University (“CNU”) changed to the current name in 2001. At present, it has 129 faculty members, including 11 professors, 32 associate professors, 20 doctors (additional 8 PhD candidates), 25 master supervisors and 17 part-time master supervisors. It has 11 person times of staff members honored as academic leaders in Chongqing Municipality, young and middle-aged backbone teachers of higher education in Chongqing, or members of Chongqing’s social science expert pool. In addition, the college has also engaged 6 domestic and international guest professors, and 6 doctors under the Overseas Talents Program of the University. In 2016, the general discipline, “Foreign Languages and Literature”, of the college was rated C in the fourth-round academic discipline assessment by the Ministry of Education of China, ranking among the first 50%. The college is authorized to offer master programs of general disciplines, including programs of 4 subordinate disciplines (i.e. English language and literature, foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, Japanese language and literature and translation studies). In 1999, the programs started to admit master candidates in the orientation of English teaching theories and application. Up to now, the programs cover 8 research orientations for academic masters, i.e. English linguistics, English literature, translation theories, English teaching theories and application, language test, English stylistics, studies on cultures of English-speaking countries, and Japanese language and culture. In 2006 and 2010, the college was authorized to offer master programs of education (English teaching) and translation, respectively. In 2018, it is proposed to offer an additional program in Sinhalese.

The college owns 3 reference rooms, 8 teaching and research quality projectsof municipal level or university level, and 6 scientific research platforms of university level (in which the East African Research Center is a country-specific research platform registered with the Ministry of Education of China); it has also established 15 simultaneous interpretation booths and language labs, and over 20practice bases for majors in English education, as well as practice bases jointly established with enterprises for translation majors.  

In recent years, the college has entered a new stage in scientific research. It has 5 projects supported by the National Social Science Fund, 4 projects supported by the Ministry of Education and over 60 projects supported by the municipality. In addition, it has published over 50 high-quality academic articles in major domestic and international journals such as A & HCI and CSSCI, as well as over 50 treatises, translations and textbooks.

The college has been constantly promoting academic exchanges and cooperation with domestic and foreign institutions. It has maintained sound partnerships with the British Consulate, the American Consulate, the Japanese Consulate, and the Foreign and Overseas Affairs Office of Chongqing, signed student exchange agreements with Shinshu University and Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen University of Japan, and built a “Window for Sino-Japan Cultural Exchanges” with the Japanese Foreign Ministry. It has also initiated an “International Teachers Program” jointly with St. Mary’s University of UK. Through cooperation with domestic and foreign universities and institutions, the college has established more than 10 overseas practice programs for students, such as Stilwell Work & Travel short-term internship program, Stilwell Summer Camp, China-Australia Chamber of Commerce student internship program. Besides, the college has undertaken, for 26 times, training of English teachers sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Chongqing Municipality and Tin Ka Ping Foundation of Hong Kong, having contributed to the education of in-service foreign language teachers in Chongqing.