Founded in 1972, the French major is one of the earliest French undergraduate programs in science and technology universities in China. In 1979, CSU began to enroll master’s students in French language and literature and was authorized to confer master’s degrees in 1986. It was approved as a Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Program in 2020. The first-level discipline for French is Foreign Languages and Literature, which is a first-tier doctoral program and a flagship discipline in Hunan Province. After more than 50 years of development, the professional teaching team is mainly composed of mid-career faculty with senior academic ranks, demonstrating great potential for growth.

Currently, there are nine full-time faculty and one foreign teacher, among whom seven hold doctoral degrees and one is a postdoctoral researcher. The faculty includes one professor, six associate professors, and six master's advisors. Full-time faculty holding doctoral degrees or senior academic ranks account for 78% of the faculty, and 100% have overseas study experience.

In recent years, the department has secured four projects funded by the National Social Science Fund, one project funded by the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences Research program, and dozens of grants from the Hunan Provincial Social Science Fund, the Hunan Provincial Social Science Achievement Evaluation Committee, the Hunan Provincial Department of Education, and Hunan Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Research Bases. More than 10 academic monographs, translated books, and more than 50 papers have been published. Among them, over 20 papers are indexed in ESI and CSSCI. Besides, two provincial-level first-class courses are offered.

Adhering to the mission of “cultivating talent and serving the nation,” the department is characterized by multilingual integration, an integrated bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral program, industry-academia-research collaborative education, and international cooperative schooling. It boasts a strong faculty team, a curriculum system combining teaching and research, resource platforms for disciplinary integration, and a mechanism for industry-academia collaborative education. These features cultivate students’ broad academic perspectives and strong adaptability. In recent years, the number of students pursuing interdisciplinary further studies or careers has increased annually. The employment rate for graduates in the past five years has reached 100%.