Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU; simplified Chinese: 北京语言大学; pinyin: Běijīng yǔyán dàxué), colloquially known in Chinese as Beiyu (Chinese: 北语; pinyin: Běiyǔ), has the main aim of teaching the Chinese language and culture to foreign students. However, it also takes Chinese students specializing in foreign languages and other relevant subjects of humanities and social sciences, and trains teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. It used to be the only institute of this kind in China. After the push for massification of higher education starting in the 90's, nowadays many other universities in almost every major city in China have a similar offe. Thus bachelor, master or post-doc degrees in "Teaching Chinese to Foreigners" , as well as bachelor and master degrees in several foreign languages are no longer only to be found at BLCU or a "specialized" university. Early in the 1950s when the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) was still at the initial stage, the first generation of BLCU teachers took an active part in the pioneering work.