CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE’ KEYPLAYER IN SINO-SIERRA LEONE FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPMENT: To Construct a High-speed Train in Mind to Link People of Both Countries
(He Mingqing, Professor, Director of CI at USL)
Confucius Institute at University of Sierra Leone(USL) is jointly established by the University of Sierra Leone and Gannan Normal University in China. It was formally launched on 27th September, 2012.
Currently, after four years of development, the teaching staff comprises five Chinese language Teachers and three Volunteer Chinese teachers. There are two dedicated classrooms with one of them equipped with multimedia equipment, one unit library and two offices. The Institute has opened five teaching places, namely, Fourah Bay College（FBC）, Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) , Fourah Bay College Secondary School, Montessori International School and Lumley Community Fishing-workers Chinese Class. Six newly designed modules of Chinese language and culture have been integrated into the university curriculum and accommodated more than 2191 registered students in 2015-2016 academic year.
The University of Sierra Leone, the oldest institution of higher learning in West Africa, was founded in 1827 and enjoyed the reputation of “Athens of West Africa” by cultivating hundreds of talents for the country, the region and the whole of Africa. The establishment of the Confucius Institute has definitely enriched the vitality of the university in its stride to revitalization.
In addition to Chinese language teaching, we have done a lot to get integrated into the local communities through introducing Chinese language into Fourah Bay College Secondary School, Montessori International School and Lumley Community, donating textbooks to the school and pupils, donating teaching equipment and funding scholarship to the university, organizing photo and movie exhibitions, celebration of Chinese festivals, spoken Chinese training for the staff, learning local language Krio by Chinese teachers, Chinese traditional Kongfu, Taiji classes and so forth have also gone a long way to establishing a strong link between Chinese culture and the citizenry of Sierra Leone. In July, 2013, the institute supported the founding of the Chinese Society, USL, and recommended the students with good Chinese proficiency as the leaders of the society, who have now become helpful assistants to the Chinese teachers in promoting the language and culture. We have trained more than 4,000 Chinese learners, have enrolled 18 students to benefit from scholarship to study in China for master’s degrees and have organized 60 members of local educational institutions and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officials as well as teachers and students of the university or the secondary school to visit China, to gain practical and personal experience of the current situation in China and Chinese culture. In the future, Confucius Institute will continue to provide more opportunities for students to study in China and to increase more programs of visiting China. The launching of the summer and winter camps were formally held in the Chinese Embassy. Those events were fully covered by the media and received high praise from the public. Now, the Confucius Institute has become a platform for teaching Chinese language and conducting cultural exchanges between our two countries.
As we all know, CI is a non-profit educational institute. Its headquarters is located in Beijing. Since the first Confucius institute agreement in the world was signed in Uzbekistan in 2004, it has developed over the past 11 years. With the duty of promoting Chinese language and culture and constructing a link in mind between Chinese people and people in other countries, it is warmly welcomed by the world. Together with other Confucius Institutes all over the world, we will continue to do the following tasks:
I. To provide service for people of different countries to learn Chinese whole-heartedly
In the 21st century, with the obvious increase of Chinese economy, the political influence and the international social status, many countries focus more on cooperation with China at all levels. The result, thus, is the unprecedented “China Boom” and “Chinese Boom”. Consequently, this has increased the pace of the development of Confucius Institute. Currently, all over the world, the total number of Confucius Institutes is 500, and Confucius Classrooms is 1,000. The registered number of students is more than 1,900,000, all in 134 countries or regions. The full-time or part-time foreign and local teachers are over 40,000.
Under the influence of Confucius Institute, more than 60 countries or regions have permitted Chinese to enter into the national educational system (If Sierra Leone put Chinese into your national education system, you will be provided more teachers and educational resources by China, and more scholarship programs will be provided for different levels. We hope the next country would be the Republic of Sierra Leone.). More than 170 countries or regions have opened Chinese classes or set up Chinese majors. All over the world, Chinese learners are up to one hundred million. In the United States of America, the middle schools or primary schools which have opened Chinese classes are more than 4,000 and Chinese learners in USA are 2,800,000. In U.K., more than 5,200 middle schools or primary schools have opened Chinese classes. The former Prime Minister David Cameron declared that Chinese learners in UK will be 400,000 by the year 2020.
The media and society all over the world accord the Confucius Institute a high praise. American New York Times, British Financial Times, CNN, BBC and so on have commented on several occasions that Confucius Institute has successfully promoted the understanding of Chinese culture for foreign countries and up to now it is the best and most wonderful product exported by China.
II. To innovate the Sino-foreign cooperative school management pattern
Confucius Institute carries out the school management pattern of equality, cooperation and mutual benefit and win-win result. It is transparent and never imposes its views on others. All the setup of Confucius Institute is based on the voluntarily application of the foreign country. With complete negotiation by the two sides, based on the Constitution of Confucius Institute, the Headquarters of Confucius Institute signs the cooperative agreement with the foreign country (re-signed every five years) and both the Chinese and foreign cooperators sign the agreement. All the countries regard Confucius Institute as the important component of university or community development.
The unique cooperative school management pattern and management system have quickly made Confucius Institute spread in many countries. Now, there are still more than 80 countries and more than 200 organizations waiting for the approval of setting up Confucius Institute in their countries. Hanban receives thousands of foreign friends each year. Many presidents of foreign universities visit Hanban in person, requesting to set up Confucius Institutes in their universities.
Because of the people’s wisdom and efforts of China and foreign countries, Confucius Institute has developed quickly and healthily. In addition, owing to the foresight and sense of devotion of many people, Confucius Institute has been able to overcome different kinds of obstacles and develop steadily.
III. To realize the condition of win-win for China and other countries
During the tenth anniversary of the setting up of the first Confucius Institute, General Secretary Xi Jinping specially wrote a letter of congratulation, pointing out that the people all over the world have created brilliant cultures, which is the valuable treasure for the human being. We ought to exchange our different cultures and creatively develop them. By doing so, we can give our cultures new vitality. Confucius Institute belongs to China, but at the same time, it belongs to the whole world. What General Secretary said best summarizes the mission and effects of Confucius Institute.
In order to further develop the friendship of China and Sierra Leone, Confucius Institute at USL will focus on the following points:
1.To establish the important platform for the humanity exchange of China and Sierra Leone, and to promote building a harmonious relationship between our two countries. Confucius Institute provides not only the service of teaching Chinese for the young students and the people of other communities, but also an important platform of humanity exchange for our both countries, which would play an important role in promoting the multi-cultural exchange and the harmonious relationship between China and Sierra Leone.
2.To promote the development of Sino-Sierra Leone friendship, and to exchange our different cultures and civilizations. After four years of development, the Confucius Institute at USL has established a wide platform for the humanity exchange of China and Sierra Leone and it has played an important role in deepening the friendship between China and Sierra Leone. In the four years, we have conducted lots of programs as mentioned earlier. At the same time, every year many Chinese teachers and volunteer teachers are sent to Confucius Institute. The teachers are also willing to study and experience the local people’s customs, life styles and ways of thinking. Their real activities and stories are the good mirror of promoting the friendship between our two countries
3.To increase mutual understanding and to promote the global exchange and mixture of multi-culture. Confucius Institute not only provides a new channel for Chinese culture to go out, but also provides a new bridge for foreign multi-cultures of different countries to enter into China, which, as a result, promotes the exchange and mixture of the global multi-culture. Some people say vividly that Confucius Institute is like a Chinese round table removed to foreign countries, which would not do missionary work or preach, would not propagandize their own value. On the contrary, all the participants would frankly speak out their own opinions, equally exchange and mix the different cultures. Only if people can sit down, show mutual respect and listen patiently, can people increase their mutual understanding.
Up to now, under the strong support and help of the officials of USL at all levels as well as the Chinese embassy, the Confucius Institute has developed well. But at the same time, we have also met some challenges; for example, the limited space for teaching and learning cannot adequately cater for the increasing number of students; Chinese is not yet studied as a major, which would result in the lack of local Chinese teachers; not enough Chinese teachers; lack of the local textbook cultivation and application; not many ways of raising more funds, and so on. All these would hinder the continuous development of Confucius Institute. But with the support and help of people at all levels, Confucius Institute will try to solve these problems.
In the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between our two countries, we hope Confucius Institute will be like a fast cultural train with strong power and we really hope that Confucius Institute would be the fast train in the people’s mind to mutually communicate between Chinese people and the people of Sierra Leone!
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