2018 Joint Conference of Canadian Confucius Institutes Held in Ottawa

On June 27th, the 2018 Joint Conference of Canadian Confucius Institutes was held in Carleton University. Nearly 40 Chinese and foreign representatives of 12 Confucius Institutes and relevant fields in Canada attended the conference.

The conference was attended by Mr. Jerry Tomberilin, Interim Provost and Vice-President Academic at Carleton University and Chair of the Confucius Institute Board, Jing Wei, Deputy Director-General of Hanban and Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, Yang Xinyu, Minister Counsellor of Educational Section of the Chinese Embassy in Canada, Cai Hongsheng, Vice President of Central China Normal University, and other guests.

Jerry Tomberlin delivering a welcome speech

Jerry Tomberlin, welcomed all of the representatives of the conference and hoped that they will move forward with joint efforts.

Jingwei introducing general situation of Confucius Institutes

Jing Wei, Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Deputy Director-General of Hanban, recognized highlights and achievements of all Confucius Institutes in Canada and thanked all the colleagues of Confucius Institutes for their hard work and efforts.

She said Confucius Institutes had provided opportunities for Canadian students to learn Chinese language and increase understanding of the world, promoted the cultural diversity and internationalization of education in host universities and school districts and pushed forward the educational communication and understanding between the two peoples of China and Canada. Meanwhile, Chinese teachers teaching at Confucius Institutes had also established profound friendship with Canadian educators and host families.

She pointed out that this conference will be problem-oriented and demand-oriented, and in-depth discussions will be held around issues including improving the quality of education, further integrating into the local area, and enhancing efficiency.

She expressed that she was very confident about the future development of the Confucius Institutes in Canada and looked forward to continuously deepening mutual trust and strengthening the partnership with Canada.

Representatives from Confucius Institutes conducted case sharing and discussion on public image and branding of Confucius Institutes, the coordinated development between Confucius Institutes and local Chinese teaching, and the needs and expectation of local universities and communities for Confucius Institutes. Representatives expressed that they had practical and efficient exchanges on the conference, which will further promote the work of Confucius Institutes in Canada.

Conference room

At present, 12 Confucius Institutes and 36 Confucius Classrooms with 123 teaching venues have been established in Canada. In 2017, a total of 20968 students have been registered to study at Confucius Institutes (Confucius Classrooms). Nearly 500 various cultural events were held with participation of 246631 people.