On October 21-22 the annual Confucius Institutes and Classrooms Annual Conference was held in London. Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited to attend the opening ceremony and deliver a speech to the attendees. USTB Chancellor Luo Weidong was also invited to attend the event.
In his speech, President Xi spoke about how important the Confucius Institute was as an important platform for helping others understand China. In recent years the Institute has grown rapidly in the UK, ranked the first place in Europe with 29 Institutes and 126 classrooms. The fruits of the Institutes are microcosm of cultural exchanges between China and the UK. He then called upon the students to work harder and build greater Sino-British ties. President Xi said “I hope that the Confucius Institute will continue to uphold their commitment to “mutual respect, equality, benefit, and friendly consultation”, for the benefit of disseminating culture, promoting culture and communication, and making contributions to international society”.
The theme of the two-day annual conference was “Sustainable Development of the Confucius Institutes and Classrooms”. The delegates discussed four topics including the Institute’s 5-year plan, quality and characteristic, integration between Chinese and foreign universities, Confucius China Studies Program. Chancellor Luo spoke about how the construction of the Confucius Institute had led to the dissemination of Chinese language and culture, and that future developments should target improving cooperation among all parties. In order to guarantee further sustainable development the Institute’s directors should strengthen communication for the next phase of planning.
With the permission of the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), USTB and de Montfort University signed a cooperative agreement to establish a Confucius Institute in November 2013, with it being the first Institute to incorporate creative industries technology. USTB made positive contribution to mutual cultural exchange and the development of Confucius Institute.
During the meeting Chancellor Luo met with the Vice Chancellor of de Montfort University, Professor Nigel Wright, to discuss issues related to USTB and the Confucius Institute, as well as the upcoming conference to be themed around “creative design”.
