The School of Middle Eastern Studies was established in 2018, with its predecessor being the department of the Arabic language set up in 1964. The school offers four majors of Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Turkish languages. The Arabic major was included in Beijing Municipal Education Commission's list of "4211" projects in 2005, the Ministry of Education's (MOE) first-batch list of national-level specialty construction projects in 2007. It is also one of 10,000 national-level first-class undergraduate program construction sites in 2019. The major of the Persian language was added to the list of 10,000 municipal-level first-class undergraduate program construction sites in 2020.

The School of Middle Eastern Studies offers programs for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. The programs for graduate students are oriented toward Arabic language and literature, Arabic translatology, interpreting and translation. Over the past few decades, the school has nurtured seven Chinese ambassadors and nearly 100 counselors, journalists, translation reviewers and professors, who play an important role in China's diplomacy, foreign affairs and trade.

The school has 347 students, 26 Chinese teachers and three foreign experts. Nearly 40 percent of Chinese teachers have medium-level and senior-level titles and 100 percent of Chinese and foreign teachers have obtained master's degrees or doctoral degrees. There are 16 people with doctoral degrees, including those who are pursuing their PhDs. There are four municipal-level teachers and five interpreting & translation experts (Zhang Zhihua, Ma Ruiyu, Zhou Lie, Zhang Hongyi and Xiao Ling) in the school. The school received many awards and honorary titles like national-level first-class undergraduate programs, national-level majors, municipal-level first-class majors and outstanding teaching teams for undergraduate programs.

The school has built many national-level platforms, such as the MOE's country-specific and region-specific research base & the center for Arabic studies, the secretariat of the MOE's country-specific and region-specific research committee, and the 20+20 Cooperation Plan for Chinese and African Institutions of Higher Education.

The school has made great strides in the improvement of its academic quality. The center for Arabic studies was added to the list of source institutes of the Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI) in 2020 and the journal Arab Studies was listed in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) in 2021.

The school has undertaken four research programs with financial support of the National Social Science Fund and over 10 provincial-level research programs. It has published over 50 research papers (four outstanding achievements and eight A-level-journal papers), submitted over 80 professional reports to the central authorities and relevant enterprises, made six literary publications (including three translation works), provided over 20 national conferences with interpreting & translation services, and obtained many awards for research.

The school has built cooperative partnerships with foreign universities and institutions, such as Ibrahim Pasha's University, Suez Canal University, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, the University of Tehran, the University of the Aegean, the University of Haifa and Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. There are opportunities available for students at all educational levels to attend international exchange programs.

The school has held the Arabic Studies Forum nine times, the International Symposium on China-Morocco Culture and Education 10 times, the China-Saudi Arabia Youth Dialogue on Cultural Integration, and a gathering for visiting journalists from 20 Arab states. Its Confucius Institute at Université Mohammed V de Rabat has become a global model.

To make greater contributions to building the BISU into a high-level university of foreign studies with Beijing's characteristics, the school has underscored the cultivation of high-level talent for skilled interpreting & translation.