Initially, the Department of Asian and African Languages was founded in September 1961 at BFSU in a mission to strengthen the friendly exchanges with Asian and African countries. Swahili and Hausa languages were among the early-established majors.
In September 2019, the School of African Studies was established to facilitate the teaching of African languages and African studies. Currently, the school provides undergraduate-level majors in Swahili, Hausa, isiZulu, Amharic, Malagasy. It also offers a number of optional courses on African languages, such as Somali, Shona, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Afrikaans, Tamazight, Yoruba, Sesotho, Setswana, Comorian, Ndebele, Tigrinya, Chichewa, Sango, isiXhosa.
Moreover, the school hosts a Center on African Studies, focusing on various disciplines including African Linguistics, Literature, History, Culture, Anthropology, Politics, Law and Regional Organizations. The school enrolls postgraduate, doctoral and overseas students every year on two academic programmes—African Linguistics & Literature and African Studies.
The school publishes the Journal of African Language and Culture Studies biannually in both Chinese and English, featuring the latest achievements of scholars in the fields of African languages, literature, societies and cultures. Additionally, the school hosts the International Symposium on African Languages and Cultures Studies annually, providing a platform for academic dialogue and exchange among scholars around the globe.
Furthermore, the school has cultivated academic partnerships with over 20 universities across Africa, as well as a few world-renowned African Studies institutes such as the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, the UK (SOAS) and Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, France (INALCO).
Over the course of 60 years, school has achieved significant milestones in the compilation of textbooks and dictionaries, literature translation and area studies. Presently, the school has a faculty comprising 16 Chinese teachers, including two professors, two associate professors, with eight holding Ph.D. degrees. Apart from the Chinese academic staff, there are eight long-time foreign experts.