The 13th Confucius Institute Conference was held at the Century City International Conference Centre in Chengdu, China from 4 to 5 December 2018. More than 1500 delegates from 154 countries around the world attended the conference. Professor Thandwa Mthembu, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Dr Frank Lin Wu, Co-Dean of the Confucius Institute at the Durban University of Technology and Professor Sibusiso Moyo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, attended the conference.
Only 41 “Individual Performance Excellence Awards” were given during this year’s conference. The Global Confucius Institute award was presented to Professor Thandwa Mthembu by Mr Tian Xuejun, Deputy Minister of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Professor Mthembu is the third member at DUT Confucius Institute who has been awarded the Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award.
“It is also another prestigious award after the Confucius Institute (CI) at DUT won the honorary title of “Global Advanced Confucius Institute” in 2017. We are honoured to be recognized with the individual performance excellence awards which shows that the achievements the DUT CI has made during 2018,” said Dr Lin Wu.
The 13th Global Confucius Institute Conference took place in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, as participants discussed new ways to teach Mandarin as a foreign language and how to better enhance cultural/academic exchanges. With the theme of ‘Reform and Innovate for Development, Join Hands to Create the Future’, this year’s conference had two special forums, eight Chinese and foreign presidents forums and 20 workshops, which focused on the Confucius Institute School Management Model and Innovation as a Management Mechanism, Chinese PLUS and the Confucius Institute’s characteristic development, Confucius Institute digital construction, cultivating diversified partnerships and other topics to exchange ideas, to sum up experience, strengthen cooperation, and promote the continued development of the Confucius Institute and its role within its regional contexts.
During the conference, a series of activities such as the Confucius Institute Chinese Teaching Resource Exhibition, the Confucius Institute New Technology Application Exhibition, and the Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition were held. Seventeen (17) enterprises and institutions signed a contract to become a partner of the Confucius Institute. In the contracted projects, it involves medium- and long-term strategic cooperation plans and specific project cooperation programs, including joint training of talented individuals, cultural/academic exchange activities, provision of internship opportunities and jobs, digital construction of Confucius Institutes, and other fields of cooperation.
Pictured: Dr Lin Wu (Co-Dean, Confucius Institute – DUT), Professor Thandwa Mthembu (Vice-Chancellor and Principal – DUT) and Professor Sibusiso Moyo (Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement – DUT) at the 13th Global CI Conference.
Dr Lin Wu, Chinese co-Director, Confucius Institute
