Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is a university directly under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. It was established in 1962 under the guidance of Premier Zhou Enlai. In June 1964, it was designated as Beijing Language Institute. In 1974, Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name for the Institute. In June 1996, it was then renamed as Beijing Language and Culture University.

BLCU is known as the Mini-United Nations; it is the only university of its kind in China that specializes in offering Chinese language and culture courses to foreign students. Meanwhile, BLCU provides professional courses in various fields, such as foreign languages, Chinese language, information science,economics, arts, and other majors to Chinese students. In addition, BLCU helps foster the growth of our academic faculty and supplies language courses designed for those who plan to study abroad. Over 50 years of development has made BLCU a multidisciplinary university that has enhanced language teaching and research. This was done with synergetic development in fields such as Chinese, foreign languages and other relevant disciplines. Since its foundation in 1962, BLCU has been an important academic base for language and cultural research and the cradle for advanced international talents in China. In 2014, we made the explicit aim and plan to build a first-class language university and to promote the development of four great academic fields.

北京语言大学是中国教育部直属高等学校，是在周恩来总理的亲自关怀下建立的，创办于1962年。1964年6月定名为北京语言学院，1974年毛泽东主席为学校题写校名，1996年6月更名为北京语言文化大学，2002年校名简化为北京语言大学。

北京语言大学是中国唯一一所以对来华留学生进行汉语、中华文化教育为主要任务的国际型大学，素有“小联合国”之称。

学校对中国学生进行外语、中文、信息科学、经济、艺术等专业教育，同时承担着培养汉语师资、出国留学预备人员出国前的外语培训工作等任务。经过五十多年的发展，北语已经发展成为一所以语言文化教育和语言文化研究为特色和优势的多科性国际型大学，是我国中外语言、文化研究的学术重镇和培养各领域优秀人才的摇篮。2019年，学校明确了建设中国特色世界一流语言大学的奋斗目标和新时代“三步走”的战略部署。