The University is a national base for Teaching Chinese as Second Language; it makes great efforts to expand programs for international students. So far there are 2,015 long-term international students from 58 countries and regions studying in Beijing Normal University, which makes Beijing Normal University top No. 4 among all Chinese universities in the ranking table of international student body. Beijing Normal University-University of California Summer Program, Princeton in Beijing, and Beijing Normal University-Dartmouth College Short-Term Chinese Language Program have a widely reputation in the USA. Moreover, BNU established 4 Confucius Institutes overseas, two in the USA, one in Canada and one in UK, aiming to promote Chinese language and culture in a global base. 

Beijing Normal University encourages faculties and students to establish academic exchange and cooperation with their counterparts overseas, and has carried out collaborative research programs with international educational and research institutions in many fields. Over 1,000 teachers and students are sent abroad each year to participate in exchange programs. 

The university has been vigorously introducing international intelligence resources and broadening the scope of international cooperation. Every year, we independently or jointly host dozens of international conferences, establishing a platform for more than 400 scholars to share their research achievements. The University also invites about 300 professors from overseas for long-term teaching and short term visits each year. Furthermore, we have been working on the Intellectual Introduction Project for the Discipline Innovation in China University System, with two noteworthy discipline areas, one in Global Change Science: Land-Atmospheric Interaction Studies, and the other one in Brain and Cognitive Science.