中文
The Russian Language program at the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) was established in 1952, making it one of the first of its kind in China’s institutions of science and engineering. It is a prominent and influential force in Russian language education nationwide and was the first foreign language unit established within HIT’s School of Foreign Languages. Throughout its history, the department has built a strong pedagogical foundation and accumulated extensive teaching experience. Thanks to the dedication of successive generations of faculty, HIT’s Russian language program has consistently ranked among the best in the country, inspiring the well-known adage: “For engineering, there is HIT; for the humanities, Renmin University.”
In 1986, HIT became one of the first science and engineering universities in China authorized to confer a master’s degree in “Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics” with a specialization in Russian. The department began enrolling undergraduate majors in Russian in 1989. It expanded its offerings in 2005 with a master’s program in “Russian Language and Literature” and launched a Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) program in 2010. The teaching section was formally upgraded to the Department of Russian in 2006. The undergraduate program was designated a Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Program in 2019 and recognized as a National First-Class Undergraduate Program in 2021.
The department’s faculty are highly qualified and skilled educators, providing robust support for talent development at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Among its 15 faculty members are 7 PhD holders (including 3 postdoctoral researchers), 6 professors, and 7 associate professors. The faculty includes a member of the Ministry of Education’s University Russian Language Teaching Steering Committee, a member of the National Graduate Russian Language Examination Design Team, a member of the National Undergraduate Russian Language Proficiency Test (Level 4) Design Team, and the Vice President of the Heilongjiang Provincial Russian Language Association. The department also hosts one to two native Russian experts as visiting instructors each year.
Building on its distinguished curriculum, the department has developed outstanding teaching and research teams. Faculty research focuses on Russian literature and culture, Russian-Chinese translation theory and practice, and contrastive Russian-Chinese linguistics. The department has led the compilation of nationally mandated textbooks, including Technical Russian, A New Course in Basic University Russian, and the national “Tenth Five-Year Plan” textbook Comprehensive Russian for Universities. Its New Comprehensive Russian-Chinese Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms (1986) was among the earliest of its kind published in China and remains one of the most comprehensive and authoritative resources available. Additionally, A New Approach to Scientific Russian Grammar (1989) and Handbook for Reading Scientific Russian (1989) have significantly influenced Russian-for-specific-purposes pedagogy nationwide.
In recent years, the department has undertaken numerous research projects funded at the provincial, ministerial, and university levels. Faculty have published nearly 100 scholarly articles in leading journals such as Foreign Language Research, Chinese Russian Teaching, and Russian Literature and Art. They have authored several monographs, including A Study on Russian Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry from the Perspective of Image Transformation (People’s Publishing House), and translated works like Carbon Photonics (National Defense Industry Press). In collaboration with top publishers like Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP) and Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (SFLEP), the department has produced a wide array of textbooks and supplementary materials widely adopted across China. Notable publications include:
l Russian Public Speaking and Debate (SFLEP)
l Technical Russian Course (SFLEP)
l Fascinating Russia: History (Higher Education Press)
l Intermediate Russian Listening Course (FLTRP)
l University Russian: One Lesson, One Practice (Volumes 1–6, FLTRP)
l Essential Preparation for the Test for Russian Majors–Level 8 (FLTRP)
l Russian-Chinese/Chinese-Russian Technical Interpreting Course (HIT Press)
Beyond academia, faculty members actively contribute policy recommendations to national and regional authorities. Their advisory articles, such as “Policy Recommendations on Enhancing Heilongjiang Province’s Humanities-Based Cooperation with Russia,” have been published in Guangming Daily and provincial think tank briefs, supporting national and local socio-economic development.
The Russian program is committed to cultivating a new generation of professionals who are not only proficient in Russian but also possess a strong disciplinary foundation and embody the ideal of “mastering language, understanding nations, and excelling in specialized fields.” The program aims to produce well-rounded graduates with a foundation in the humanities, sciences, and arts, interdisciplinary knowledge, and a reflection of HIT’s distinctive educational ethos. Leveraging the university’s strengths in engineering, management, and economics, the program fosters innovative, practice-oriented, and globally competitive Russian-language professionals prepared to meet the demands of the modern era.
Since 2008, the Department of Russian has partnered with Bauman Moscow State Technical University—one of Russia’s premier aerospace institutions—to offer a dual-degree program in “Russian Language and Rocket Systems and Astronautics.” Students spend their first two years at HIT studying Russian and foundational engineering, then transfer to Bauman for three years of specialized study. Upon graduation, they receive a Bachelor of Engineering from Bauman and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian from HIT. Graduates of this pioneering program represent a rare and valuable category of high-level, interdisciplinary talent: either aerospace specialists with native-level Russian proficiency or technical translators with deep expertise in aerospace. In this way, the department fulfills its mission of supplying the nation with elite, bilingual professionals at the intersection of language and technology.
