Qingdao University is a provincial key comprehensive university among the first  group of universities in Shandong Province that are specialized in cultivating application-oriented talents. Founded in 2002, the College of Foreign Languages has become a renowned one of its kind across China. Now it runs six undergraduate programs involving English, Japanese, German, French, Korean and Spanish languages; four master’s degree programs including German Language and Literature, Japanese Language and Literature, Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (in English) and Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (in Korean); and one Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) program with five tracks (English interpretation, English translation, Japanese interpretation, Japanese translation, and Korean translation). Among these, the undergraduate program of Korean language has been listed as a characteristic program by the Ministry of Education; the Japanese Language and Literature program was named a key discipline of Shandong Province during the “11^th Five-Year Plan” period; the German language program is a cooperative education project between the Government of Shandong Province and the Government of Bavaria, Germany; the programs of Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (in English and Korean) became the key disciplines of Qingdao University during the “12^th Five-Year Plan” period; and the program of English language has been included in the “Project of Developing Key Majors in Elite Universities with Distinctive Characteristics” and listed as a characteristic program of Qingdao University.