More Than a Meeting
The 2008 Confucius Institute Conference gives representatives new perspectives of the Confucius Institute

Discussions: Collective Wisdom

More than 2000 years ago, Confucius went through all the hardships, traveling far and wide giving cultural lectures, and finally became the sage of Chinese culture.

In the 21st century, Confucius Institute, which is named after the sage, braved all the hardships and brings Chinese language and culture to the rest of the world. Confucius Institutes have been developing quickly ever since it was established four years ago.

Currently, Confucius Institutes are found on the five continents of Asia, America, Europe, Africa and Oceania. The key factors to achieving the goal of “running every Confucius Institute well and teaching each student well” are qualified teaching staff, well-targeted textbooks and reasonable curriculum designs.

In the afternoon of 10th December, the delegates were divided into ten panels according to regions and together they held extensive and in-depth discussions on the quality and quality management of Confucius Institutes, curriculum design, selection and development of teaching materials at Confucius Institutes, Confucius Institutes and education, training of local Chinese language teachers, design and organization of cultural activities at Confucius Institutes. During the discussions, some delegates raised the problems their Confucius Institutes faced and tried to find solutions from their counterparts; some delegates introduced and shared their successful experience with their counterparts, while some expressed their wishes to work with other Confucius Institutes so as to promote cooperation and help each other. Some others put forward their in-depth thoughts about the overall development of Confucius Institutes, inspiring attendees to jointly explore the future development of Confucius Institutes.

The purpose of assessment and quality management is to further improve the work of Confucius Institutes and learn from one another. The success of Confucius Institute lies in the diverse systems and models.

Generally, people believe that assessment standards at various levels in different categories should be made in accordance to the conditions and backgrounds of the local areas. Mr. Yan Li, Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Waterloo, Canada, raised the concept of regional management system. Mr. Gary Sigley, Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Western Australia proposed that all Confucius Institutes send their assessment models to Hanban and the latter shall summarize the practices of all Confucius Institutes and design a set of uniform regulations and standards accordingly.

With regards to the curriculum design and selection and development of teaching materials, the delegates stressed that curriculum design should serve the needs that are appropriate for the learners and suitable to the local conditions. At the same time it should combine with the strategy of the Confucius Institute to make the Confucius Institute a window for both, where foreign friends could better understand China and where Chinese people could better see the outside world.

Delegates held that the Confucius Institute Headquarters should organize experts to compile a set of Chinese teaching materials that can be used as a general framework for common reference, and encourage Confucius Institutes to develop teaching materials in accordance to their needs and local conditions.

Chinese language teaching overseas should rely mainly on local Chinese language teachers and the training of local teachers is a long-term task and a strategic goal of the Confucius Institute. All delegates proposed that the training of local teachers should be further strengthened and Confucius Institutes should establish the major of teaching Chinese language to Speakers of Other Languages, open Chinese language teaching courses to foreign students studying in China, offer teaching certificates to overseas teachers and provide scholarships to students majoring in Chinese language teaching.

Organization of cultural activities is another important part in the overall development of Confucius Institute.

Confucius Institutes in different countries have accumulated a lot of experience in organizing these activities, for example, holding cultural exhibitions with the assistance of local Chinese societies. And Confucius Institutes in the same country could also co-organize activities, which will not only expand the scale and influence of the activity, but also save cost. Mr. Yan Li from the Confucius Institute at the University of Waterloo, spoke about their successful invitation of four famous writers to Canada to hold discussions with the local writers and give lectures in other universities, which produced positive effects.

In the morning of 11th December, the closing ceremony of the 2008 Confucius Institute Conference was held with a lively atmosphere. Representatives of the panels went up to the stage to passionately present the results of their panel discussions.

Although the chairwoman is constantly reminding them that “the time for each speaker should be limited to 5 minutes”, and “Sorry, you are running out of time”, every speaker was still holding onto their microphones, trying to fully express the ideas of their panel. This earnest and unyielding spirit best reflected the spirit of this conference as well as that of the Confucius Institute, that is, to run every Confucius Institute well and teach each student well. The realization of this goal could only be achieved with such spirit.

After the conference, all the directors of Confucius Institutes took part in a two-day workshop in which they learned and discussed the speech made by Mdm. Liu Yandong and the work report delivered by Mr. Zhou Ji, and carried out in-depth exchanges and discussions around the purpose and future direction of Confucius Institutes, organization and management, fund-raising and financial management, quality of the teaching faculty and cooperation between Chinese and foreign universities.

After analyzing present problems, delegates further understood the ways for sustainable development of the Confucius Institute. Looking forward to future developments, they felt encouraged to continue their efforts in developing Confucius Institutes and are confident in harvesting sweet fruits in the future.

As Confucius said, “An educated person cannot but possess enormous perseverance, for the responsibility he carries is heavy and the journey he embarks on is endless.” Every member of the Confucius Institute family understood this quite well. With confidence in and yearnings for a prosperous future of the Confucius Institute, delegates are back in their positions persevering and making innovations, striving to create a brighter future for Confucius Institutes.

With the spirit of close collaboration, they will jointly explore the road of development for Confucius Institutes, leaving only the glistening footprints of pioneers in the history of cultural dissemination.