In 2011, upon the approval of the Ministry of Education, Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) and Xuancheng Municipal People’s Government started the joint building of Xuancheng Campus, HFUT. The establishment of Xuancheng Campus is an important measure taken to implement the outline of the national program for education reform and development and promote the development of Wanjiang Demonstration Area. It is a typical illustration of how national high-quality educational resources and local resources can be combined to create a new model of collaborative higher education. In 2012, the first enrollment took place at Xuancheng Campus. Ever since then, Xuancheng Campus and Hefei Campus have been open, with two different codes, as other universities in the first batch, for students to apply for. After they finish their studies, students who meet the graduation requirements can receive the same undergraduate degree certificate from HFUT in accordance with the regulations on student status management of the university, and those who meet the degree-granting requirements can have the same bachelor’s degree certificate.
The English Department of Xuancheng Campus (EDXC), formerly known as English Teaching and Research Office of the Basic Department of Xuancheng Campus, was established in 2013, which is mainly responsible for teaching English majors and foreign language related courses on the campus. In 2018, HFUT conducted a management system and mechanism reform of Xuancheng Campus as a step to promote the process of teaching integration, and renamed the office the English Department of Xuancheng Campus under the management of the School of Foreign Studies (SFS), HFUT.
The EDXC currently has 11 full-time teachers, including 10 English teachers and 1 Japanese teacher. The faculty is a dynamic group of young people, who have won awards in various teaching competitions at different levels. They have guided English majors and non-English majors in national or regional English competitions and won many prizes.
Xuancheng Campus started matriculating undergraduates majoring in English in 2016. Presently, there are over 360 registered students. Although the English teaching history on the campus is not long, the students cultivated are fairly strong in professional knowledge. This can be manifested by the excellent results they have achieved in high-level English competitions. For instance, the special prize of the National College English Competition (English Student Group), the first prize (runner-up) of the “FLTRP Cup” English Speech Competition (Anhui Division), the second prize of the “FLTRP Cup” English Reading Competition (Anhui Division) and the second prize in the National Interpreting Competition (Anhui Division). In addition, the students’ comprehensive ability is outstanding, as their volunteer translation services for international events like the Asian Mountain Cycling Championships received unanimous praise from the organizers.
Since the implementation of the integrated management on the two campuses, the SFS has coordinated and rescheduled the development of the EDXC, which will further enhance the organization of the teaching team and the professional development of the English Department, and better serve the training of students into English professionals and improve foreign language teaching in Xuancheng Campus.