Always improving

Going forward, Confucius Institutes will continue to develop and improve themselves by using their unique advantages, according to Yu. One of them is improved employment prospects for their students. Indeed, students’ enthusiasm for Chinese language is not purely cultural, but partly owes to the fact that mastery of the Chinese language can pave the way for better employment opportunities, said Yu.

With the high demand for students with good Chinese proficiency, the Confucius Institute in Cameroon has acted to promote students’ employment. “In Cameroon, the Confucius Institute at University of Yaounde II has built cooperative relationships with many local Chinese enterprises to help excellent students get internship opportunities and be employed in these enterprises,” Yu told Chinafrica.

Another promising area for further development of the Confucius Institute are the joint degree programs between Chinese and foreign universities.

“The Chinese Language Department of the University of Zambia has set up a ‘2 + 2’ program, which allows students to study Chinese for two years at the University of Zambia and then go to China to study Chinese for another two years,” said Li. Many of the students find a job in Chinese language teaching upon returning in Zambia, where more and more students are studying for the HSK, the Chinese language proficiency test for foreigners.

“Confucius Institute is a window of China’s education reform and opening up. With 12 years of development, it now enters a new era,” said Hao Ping, then Vice Minister of Ministry of Education of China, at the closing ceremony of the 11th Global Confucius Institute Conference. “Confucius Institutes will further promote two-way communications between Chinese and foreign cultures.” Comments to cuixiaoqin@chinafrica.cn