Taking advantage of the 11th Confucius Institute Conference, Xiamen University hosted the 8th Xiamen University Confucius Institute Partnership Workshop in Kunming, Yunnan Province on Dec. 8 and 9, 2016. A total of 44 people attended this year’s workshop, including senior leadership of part of the host universities of 16 XMU co-built 16 Confucius Institutes (CIs), CI board representatives and CI Directors. They together had in-depth discussions on “How to Promote Exchange and Share Experience to Further Improve CIs’ Teaching Quality” and “How to Fully Play CIs’ Function as a Bridge and Platform for Communication and Cooperation”. Vice-President of Xiamen University Mdm. Zhan Xinli attended the Workshop and addressed the opening ceremony, and Mr. Mao Tongwen, Director of the Southern Base of Confucius Institute Headquarters and Office of Confucius Institute Affairs, XMU, chaired the Workshop.
The 8th Xiamen University Confucius Institute Partnership Workshop kicked off in Kunming on Dec. 9, 2016.
In her welcome address, Vice-President Zhan warmly welcomed all the guests to the Workshop and highly appreciated the achievements made by the 16 CIs and 44 affiliated Confucius Classrooms in 2016. She reviewed the visits and exchanges between Xiamen University and the host universities which were carried out through the CI as a comprehensive cultural exchange platform in the past year, and articulated her expectation that each CI can work still harder to further expand the scope of Chinese language teaching and improve the teaching quality. At Last, Vice-President Zhan encouraged the attending Chinese Directors to fully play the critical role of “diplomats of the people” between Xiamen University and the host universities in facilitating the all-round cooperation between XMU and the host universities.
To recognize the CI’s work and encourage outstanding CIs to play an exemplary role, XMU set up two awards for outstanding CIs and individuals in 2013, namely “XMU Confucius Institute of the Year” and “XMU Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award” and added a new award “XMU Special Contribution Award” in 2015. This year, the Award of “XMU Confucius Institute of the Year” goes to Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington and Confucius Institute at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. The XMU 2015 Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award goes to Director of the Confucius Institute at Trier University Liang Yong, Executive Director of the Confucius Institute at Cardiff University Catherine Chabert, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Mae Fah Luang University Huang Jianjun, and Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at San Diego State University Lu Wei. And Mark Cranshaw, Director of the Confucius Institute at University of Southampton, won this years’ “Special Contribution Award”. Vice-President Zhan Xinli presented the awards to the award-winning CIs and individuals.
The Workshop was divided into two groups with representatives from the CIs in Europe and Oceania in Group 1 and representatives from the CIs in Asia, Africa and America in Group 2. The two groups carried out thorough discussions on two topics, made full communication, demonstrated the CI achievements and operation experience, and exchanged their views and opinions on the construction and management of the CI, which has rendered beneficial intellectual support to the content-driven development and quality improvement of Confucius Institutes.
Representatives of the Workshop attending the 11th Confucius Institute Conference
Representative of the Workshop also attended the 11th Confucius Institute Conference with President of Xiamen University Prof. Zhu Chongshi after the Workshop and the President Forum of the Conference. During the Workshop and the Conference, XMU also jointly held the annual CI board meetings with the representatives of five CIs in South Africa, Nigeria, Poland, France and Canada. Both sides conducted fruitful discussions on the in-depth study of the spirit of the 11th Confucius Institute Conference, the enhancement of the CI’s teaching quality and content-driven development, the deepening of all-round intercollegiate cooperation, and the promotion of the development of disciplines.
(Office of Confucius Institute Affairs, Xiamen University)
