Online International Chinese Education Forum for Confucius Institute Directors

The Confucius Institute at the University of Southampton was invited to attend the online International Chinese Education Forum for Confucius Institute Directors, which was hosted by the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and the Chinese International Education College/ Overseas Education College, Xiamen University, and organized by Xiamen University Center for Language Education and Cooperation on 5th April, 2021. The conference mainly discussed International Chinese Language Education in the post-COVID era and opportunities and challenges in developing international Chinese language education.

During the meeting Dr. Ying Zheng, the director of the CI at the University of Southampton, delivered a speech about Southampton’s approach. From the past 10 years’ experience, we have realized that reflecting on teaching practice, summarizing teaching experience and attaining teaching and research achievements will contribute to the improvement in quality and sustainable development of international Chinese education. In the future, the CI will shift its focus from pure Chinese teaching to an equal emphasis on Chinese teaching and research, and build a research-oriented Confucius Institute integrating Chinese teaching and Chinese culture research.