Southwest Jiaotong University started the foreign teaching as early as its foundation. Since Imperial Chinese Railway College (the predecessor of SWJTU) recruited the first group of students and provided foreign language courses in 1896, foreign teaching in SWJTU has had a 120-year-old history of development; and Department of Business English is the latest part of that history.

Department of Foreign Language of SWJTU had been founded in 1985, two years before it started to recruit English-major undergraduates. In 2001, the department was restructured as School of Foreign Languages. In 1989, the main bodies of the university moved from Emei to Jiulidi, Chengdu, when the rest departments which remained in Emei were renamed as SWJTU Emei branch (later known as Emei campus). When another new campus was founded in Xipu in 2002, SWJTU’s present setup of“one university, two places, three campus”was formed. Earlier in 2001, Division of Foreign Teaching was set up in Emei campus; and it was restructured as Department of Foreign Language in 2006. In 2015, as Emei campus and Chengdu campus (the latter includes Xipu and Jiuli campuses) were put under integrated management, Department of Foreign Language became a subordinate body of School of Foreign Languages, and was restructured as Department of Business English.

SWJTU decided to establish Department of Business English in order to meet the present and future needs of economic and social development. This is a decision made in the background of economic globalization as well as China’s rapid development of international business activities such as import and export trade, overseas investment, foreign investment attraction, etc. The establishment of the new department was based on the integrated use of SWJTU’s international education platform as well as multiple discipline resources including engineering, economy, law, management, business and foreign language. The birth of DBE is also a newest example of SWJTU’s ambitious plan to seize the opportunity of "The Belt The Road" strategy by taking full advantages of her rich experience of education as well as her leading position in rail transit studies.

Business English major aims to cultivate compound talents who have not only mastery of English language but also international vision and humanistic quality. Basic theories and knowledge related to business are included in the curricula: linguistics, economics, management, international commercial laws, etc. Meanwhile, the abilities of English application, business practice, cross-cultural communication, critical thinking and innovation, independent learning are also the aims of our education. The talents we cultivate will be familiar with the rules and practices of international business, and are able to deal with relative works of international business language,culture and communication as well as foreign business state-conditions researches.

There are 18 full-time teachers in Business English Department, all of whom have overseas experiences. They all have doctorate or master's degree. Our teachers are engaged not only in teaching and scientific researching but also in participating actively in the reform and internationalization of teaching mode, so that our abilities of educating and researching can be constantly improved. In recent years, our department has completed 10 scientific research projects (on national, provincial or university level), published more than 20 translation works, won 9 teaching achievement prizes, established 2 quality courses, published nearly100 teaching or researching papers in various academic journals, and participated in the edit work of 15 textbooks.

Our department has built language learning facilities and business training platforms including digital language lab, English FM broadcast station, simultaneous interpretation laboratory, and English learning center. We’ve established long-term and stable cooperative relations with Bosh, Volvo, China Railway, Lan-bridge, and other well-known enterprises, and together with them we have built a college-enterprise base of business English internship which can serve our students as a good platform to improve their practical ability and provide opportunities of employment.

In addition, by making full use of the large business forums and platforms such as Fortune Forum, International Travel Fair, and other high-end international conferences, our department provides real learning and training environment for the students in order to enhance their practical abilities.

SWJTU provides many international exchange programs, and has various forms of cooperation with foreign universities in Canada, the United States, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, and other countries. In every year a large number of our teachers and students go abroad for training, communication, or degree education.