China News Service, Beijing, August 11th: From Chinese education to mutual learning, how does the Confucius Institute promote diversified exchanges between Chinese and foreign universities?
Author Ma Shuisha Li Jingze
The giant Chinese New Year pictures at the Italian Flower Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival on the Canal of Aveiro in Portugal, the Italian-English bilingual translation of the 17th-century Latin translation of "The Doctrine of the Mean"... In recent years, the Confucius Institute's overseas education and related educational exchanges have Showing a new look.
A number of Chinese and foreign university presidents recently stated in an exclusive interview with reporters that the construction of Confucius Institutes is currently being integrated into the governance system and development planning of universities, and has become a diversified exchange platform for improving the internationalization level of Chinese and foreign universities.
In June 2020, the China International Chinese Education Foundation was officially established, and it has become the overall management and operator of the Confucius Institute and Confucius Classroom brands. It is mainly responsible for the overall management and operation of the Confucius Institute and Confucius Classroom brands, and raises funds and resources for the development of Confucius Institutes around the world. Provide support and services.
Chinese and foreign cooperative institutions have become the main body of Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms, and undertake specific operation and management work.
This year is the second year of the establishment of the China International Chinese Education Foundation, and the cooperation and exchanges involving Chinese education between Chinese and foreign universities have become more frequent.
Dalian University of Foreign Studies has established 10 Confucius Institutes overseas, covering 9 languages.
According to Liu Hong, President of Dalian University of Foreign Studies, Dawai will connect overseas Confucius Institutes with secondary colleges of relevant languages of the school, and train Chinese teachers for overseas Confucius Institutes in a targeted manner.
Liu Hong said that since it became the main body of the Confucius Institute, Dawai has included the construction of the Confucius Institute in its governance system and development plan, and the school's subjective initiative has become stronger. effect.
The construction of the Confucius Institute has also been incorporated into the international development plan of the Hungarian Roland University.
The Confucius Institute at Roland University, established in 2006, is the first Confucius Institute in Hungary. With its promotion, Chinese has been incorporated into the Hungarian national education system and has become a compulsory and elective course in many Hungarian middle schools, as well as one of the Hungarian college entrance examination subjects.
As the vice president of Roland University, Hao Qingxin also serves as the head of the Chinese Department of the school and the Hungarian director of the Confucius Institute.
According to Hao Qingqing, the Confucius Institute at Roland University currently has 34 teaching sites, mainly located in Budapest and well-known Hungarian towns such as Eger, Miskolc and Tokaj. There are more than 2400 students.
Hao Qingqing told reporters that the Confucius Institute is a part of Roland University, and it is as important as the Chinese Department of Roland University in terms of Chinese teaching faculty, curriculum teaching and academic research. Editing and other work." Hao Qingxin said that the "Hungarian-Han Dictionary" compiled by his team has entered the proofreading stage and is expected to be published in 2023.
In recent years, the connection between the Confucius Institute at Roland University and Beijing Foreign Studies University, its Chinese partner institution, has become closer, including participation in the simultaneous classrooms, Chinese studies research and overseas practice base construction in the "Double First-Class" construction project of BFSU The communication and cooperation between the two sides in professional construction and personnel exchanges have become more and more in-depth.
Liu Hong believes that the Confucius Institute is a diversified platform for exchanges and cooperation, which can promote all-round cooperation between Chinese and foreign educational entities.
The cooperation is first reflected in the field of international Chinese education, which promotes cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
She cited, for example, that the Overseas Confucius Institute at Dalian University of Foreign Studies has made many attempts to "translate China to the world", including the retranslation of Yin Duoze's Latin translation of The Doctrine of the Mean.
In the 17th century, Yin Duoze from Sicily, Italy, translated "The Doctrine of the Mean" into Latin and named it "The Political Morality of China" and brought it back to Europe, contributing to the spread of Confucianism.
In order to translate ancient Chinese literary classics into a modern language that is easier to understand, Luo Yiwen, foreign director of the Confucius Institute at "Kore" University of Enna, and Rodney Lokaj, an Italian major in the school, spent 4 years , which retranslated Yin Duoze's translation into Italian and English, which was published at the end of last year.
In addition to bilateral cooperation, Dawai has formed the Confucius Institute Cooperative University Alliance with 10 foreign universities that have co-hosted Confucius Institutes.
In addition, it also led the establishment of the Liaoning Province Confucius Institute Cooperative University Alliance.
The two alliances formed a larger alliance.
The way of the alliance promotes multilateral exchanges and cooperation in education, not limited to the field of international Chinese education, but also sparks of cooperation in other disciplines of various universities.
Liu Hong also mentioned that the Confucius Institute is also helping to improve the international education level of colleges and universities.
When Dalian University of Foreign Studies set up the Polish language major, through the matchmaking of the director of the Confucius Institute at Jagiellonian University in Poland, it finally signed a cooperation agreement with Jagiellonian University. The other party also sent several teachers to Dalian in person to help build the university. Foreign Polish majors.
In recent years, the popularity of overseas Chinese learning has continued unabated. Under this trend, how to cultivate overseas local Chinese teachers and develop the characteristics of Confucius Institutes has become a common concern of Chinese and foreign cooperative institutions.
Mostafa Mohamed Mahmoud, Minister of National Education and Vocational Training of Djibouti, said that they had conducted a questionnaire survey on Djibouti high school students, and more than 80% of the students expressed their willingness to learn Chinese, and many students hope to study in China .
In February this year, Djibouti established the first Confucius Institute, and initially planned to offer Chinese courses in 5 local high schools.
Ron Said Haji Ismail, Director of the Confucius Institute in Djibouti, said that Sichuan Normal University has selected 4 Chinese teachers and 1 volunteer for the Confucius Institute in Djibouti, and plans to recruit some excellent local teachers in the future.
Liu Hong also pointed out that Chinese teachers and volunteers sent overseas by Chinese colleges and universities are highly mobile. To fundamentally solve the problem of teachers, it is still necessary to train local teachers.
In addition, regardless of teacher training or student training, it is also necessary to develop a unique "Chinese +" talent training model according to local actual needs and cultural characteristics.
"When thinking about how to create distinctive features, you should respect and understand the local culture." Liu Hong said that cross-cultural communication is not a one-way giving, and international Chinese education is not only telling the world about Chinese stories, but also helping foreign friends to tell them in Chinese The cultural stories of their nation and country have truly achieved mutual learning between Chinese and foreign cultures.
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