Page 8 - DUT Edge

DUT'S CI OFFERS VARIOUS PROGRAMMES OF CHINESELANGUAGEANDCULTURE
“Programmes have been offered to the DUT community, KZN universities and colleges, primary and secondary schools, government agencies, and other local communities,” said Frank Lin WU, CI Co-Dean.
More than 100 cultural functions have been hosted and co-hosted by the DUT CI with around 220 000 participants from local and Chinese communities in South Africa. More than 100 Mandarin learners from DUT CI have been sponsored by the Institution to study in China on a short-term basis, six local teachers have been trained as local Mandarin teachers by sending them to participate in local Mandarin teacher training programmes in China and two local teachers have been successfully hired at DUT CI and 10 academicians and senior managers from DUT have close academic partnerships with the Chinese counterparts through the efforts of the DUT CI.
“All these programmes have greatly promoted DUT and DUT CI itself within and outside Durban as well,” he said.
“The partner universities of the DUT CI are DUT from the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) from Fujian Province, China,” he said.
Chinese Programmes on Offer at DUT
Lin WU stressed that DUT CI works as a bridge to promote cooperation between DUT and Chinese universities to advance collaborations in various elds. DUT CI has also been dedicated to ‘Chinese’ vocational and technical training, contributing to the economic development of local communities by exploiting the discipline advantages of DUT and FAFU.
“According to local enterprises and society’s demand, DUT CI has also focused on speci c skills and vocational training programmes and recommended excellent students to work in local Chinese enterprises,” he said.
ChineseCulturePromotingProgrammes
“By working closely with Chinese diplomatic missions in South Africa, South African governmental agencies, DUT and the Durban Chinese community, the CI has hosted and co-hosted a series of versatile and colourful cultural functions and cultural collaborative programmes,” he said.
There are more than 20 cultural programmes that are showcased by the DUT CI every year, among which are: Chinese New Year’s celebration, Chinese New Year’s Concert, Chinese Lantern Festival Culture Experience Night, DUT Open Week, DUT WOW Career Exhibition, Durban Port Festival Chinese Culture Experience,Traditional Chinese Moon Festival Gala, etc. with total participants of over 50 000 people.
Winter /Summer Camp
“From 2015 to 2019, DUT CI has organised a total of ve winter camps and two summer camps in which 139 students have been offered the opportunity to practice their Mandarin skills in China as well as to experience Chinese culture and daily life by taking short-term courses and visiting Beijing, Fuzhou, Wuyi Mountain, and universities,” he said.
Speaking on the Winter camp, DUT’s Sanele Kervin Ntuli, said: “My Mandarin improved a lot with this camp.Time ies without you noticing. I thought three weeks was a long time but it actually felt like three days. I really respect how Chinese people stay true to their culture and hope to explore more of China someday and all the different Chinese cultures. I will miss the students of FAFU and the city of Fuzhou,” he said.
Since its formal operations in 2014, the Confucius Institute (CI) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) has successfully offered various programmes of Chinese language and culture to more than 7 000 registered learners from all sectors of society.
ContactUs
Tel: +27 031 313 5814
Email: cidut_sa@yeah.net
Website: https://www.dut.ac.za/academic/confucius-institute/http://dut. za.chinesecio.com/
Address: 3rd Floor, Mariam Bee Building, ML Sultan Campus, Durban University of Technology, 41/43 ML Sultan Road, Durban, 4001, South Africa. Pictured: Frank Lin WU, CI Co-Dean.
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