The famous Great Wall of China. Beiwai is a prestigious teaching and research university with a multilingual, multidisciplinary curriculum. The institution has a faculty of six hundred, including 260 professors and associate professors, and a student body of 4,000. The student body also includes approximately 600 foreign students, the majority from non-English speaking countries. IES is currently the only resident U.S. program at Beiwai, so students are better able to integrate with the local inhabitants.
Some students join sport teams, such as tennis and basketball, playing with Chinese teammates.
Students may choose to study for a semester or for the full year. IES students combine intensive language study with academic work in Chinese area studies. Language classes of no more than six students meet three hours daily five days a week and are supplemented by private tutorials every afternoon for ten semester credits. All levels use the Princeton University series of teaching materials. Students take two three-credit IES seminars each semester for a total of sixteen semester credits.