6th Confucius Institutes Conference in Beijing

Confucius Institutes from all over the world gathered in Beijing for their annual conference, December 12 to 14, 2011. The Confucius Institute Headquarters drafted a plan to drive up the number of institutes and Confucius Classes to respectively 500 and 1000. The plan was discussed by the more than 2000 participants attending the conference. During the Director’s Forum, the Confucius Institute at Group T explained its vision on the future.

Wim Polet, Director, first talked about the history of Flanders' only Confucius Institute. He also explained how Group T managed to gain a strong footing in a region that already counts 2 university Sinology departments and an abundance of Chinese language classes by positioning its 5E-model as an alternative. Group T's Confucius Insitute developed the new course-concept A Touch of China and organized the very first European Confucius Institute Conference and China Higher Education Fair.

Next, the Confucius Institute at Group T launched the idea of Confucius Engineering Institute. The more institutes there will be, the more important it will become to stand out. The following institutes serve as an example: the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera (State University of New York in Binghamton), the Tourism Confucius Institute (Griffith University) in Australia, the Confucius Institute for Traditional Medicine, and the Confucius Institute for Business, both in London.

Chinese cultuur is becoming ever more present in today's world. 358 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius Classes spread over 105 countries contribute to this. The Confucius Institute at Group T is one of them.