Summary: Mdm. Xu Lin, Director-General of Hanban, believes that Confucius Institutes worldwide have gone through the incipient stage after years of rapid development. In order to facilitate the sustainable development of Confucius Institutes, development plan shall be formulated and local teaching force shall be strengthened so that Confucius Institutes can grow and thrive at a higher level.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 19, 2012 (People.com.cn) (Reporter: Wu Zhihua) The Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Iberia-America was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil between July 18 and July 19, 2012 where foreign and Chinese directors of 29 Confucius Institutes in 14 countries in Iberia and America gathered together to exchange views on schooling experience and explore into the ways of future development. Today, Mdm. Xu Lin, Director-General of Hanban and Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters, accepted a joint interview of reporters from Chinese and foreign media organizations, including People.com.cn, during the interval of the Joint Conference.
Statistics of Hanban show until 2011, 387 Confucius Institutes and 509 Confucius Classrooms have been set up in 108 countries worldwide. About 500,000 students registered to attend Chinese courses of all kinds and over 13,000 various cultural activities were hosted and organized by Confucius Institutes around the world. Among others, Confucius Institutes in Iberia-America have enjoyed the fastest and most vigorous development in all continents across the globe. For now, 12 Latin American countries have established 25 Confucius Institutes and 10 Confucius Classrooms, which are developing on a fast track on a rapidly expanding scale. The number of registered students surpassed 14,500, with about 600 in each Confucius Institute on average, representing a 55% increase from that of 2010.

Cultivating local Chinese teaching talents underpins the sustainable development of Confucius Institutes

When it comes to the layout and development of Confucius Institutes in Iberia-America, Mdm. Xu Lin noted that "the layout of Confucius Institutes is by no means determined on our own; rather, it is determined by the demand in the region. As demands here are strong, the current layout is far from being enough." With regard to inadequate Chinese teaching force in Iberia-America, Mdm. Xu pointed out that "it's painful yet happy". "We feel ��painful' because we couldn't accommodate demands, and feel ��happy' as Chinese Language Fever is still gaining momentum. We cherish this opportunity very much."

According to Mdm. Xu, "I'm very confident of the cultivation of teaching force. Confucius Institute Headquarters stands ready to provide all-round support for Latin American countries in operating Confucius Institutes well. We will support Confucius Institutes in Latin America in sending more students to China for further Chinese language studies so that they will become the mainstay of and take root in local Confucius Institutes after graduation."

She also told our reporters that in addition to this, Hanban will do more to recruit and enlist outstanding college graduates in China and gather them together to learn Portuguese or Spanish for a year. After basically grasping one of the two foreign languages, they will be dispatched to Confucius Institutes in Latin America to cover the shortage of local Chinese language teaching force. Hanban will also provide scholarships for local teachers in Latin America who aspire to engage in Chinese language teaching. "So long as they're willing to work as full-time Chinese language teachers in the local communities after studies in China and sign contracts with local Confucius Institutes, we will deliver strong support and necessary scholarships to them. Hanban also expects to establish a teaching force composed of 300 full-time Chinese language teachers who will be selected from volunteers and this program will tilt towards Latin American countries as the demand for teaching force is huge in these countries."

Mdm. Xu Lin said that "I hope more Chinese people, especially college teachers who shoulder the task of cultivating tomorrow's social elite, can go global through the platform of Confucius Institute to understand and learn diversified culture of the world and absorb the nutrition of advanced world culture, so that Chinese culture can advance with the times." She indicated with confidence that "by offering more and more teachers the opportunity to teach Chinese in the rest of the world via Confucius Institute, understand and embrace cutting-edge and diverse cultures of other countries, we can move forward with the development of humanities and social sciences on the same track, so that it not only adapts to, but also leads the tide of times."

Reinforce Confucius Institute Development Plan to promote the integration of Chinese culture with foreign ones

Hanban suggests Confucius Institutes of various countries work on the development plan of their own and regard the plan and its implementation as a criterion to assess the teaching quality of Confucius Institutes. When talking about the formulation of development plan, Mdm. Xu noted that "this suggestion is initially aimed to promote the sustainable development of Confucius Institutes." Confucius Institutes spring up in all parts of the world, triggering the concerns of domestic and overseas people about whether Confucius Institutes can develop on a sustainable road. Confucius Institutes in Latin America are late starters, but seven of them are over five years old and most of them are up and running for more than three years. "Having gone through the incipient stage, they need to be lifted to a new level."

Mdm. Xu said that the formulation of Confucius Institute development plan will be beneficial for Confucius Institutes to better serve local communities and colleges so that they can be mainstreamed into local culture and local university culture. "We hope Confucius Institutes can adapt to the demand of local colleges and communities in a more conscious and active manner through laying their respective development plan."

In addition, it can also promote Chinese partners of Confucius Institutes to take into consideration the other party's needs and ideas. She emphasized that "this is a two-way and thorough cooperation and communication. Only by enhancing the influence of Confucius Institutes, can we consolidate the status of Confucius Institutes in local colleges, rendering colleges a feeling that they couldn't do without Confucius Institutes."

With clear-cut goals and orientation in place, we call for detailed measures. For that end, Hanban has put forward two "Three-Third" principles for the sustainable development of Confucius Institutes. Specifically, the first "Three-Third" principle is: Confucius Institute Headquarters, specific region and locality shall each account for one third of all programs of each Confucius Institute." By regional programs, we mean region-wide cultural programs jointly held by Confucius Institutes in Latin America which can expand the influence of Confucius Institutes in local areas. The second "Three-Third" principle is: Confucius Institutes should retain one third of old programs which have better results justified in practice and can be further implemented, one third of innovative programs and one third of old programs that will be reformed. Mdm. Xu indicated that "encouraging building a local teaching force is an innovative program". Innovative programs encourage students' achievements of Confucius Institutes in Latin America to be integrated into college credit system and even promote Chinese language as a specialized course of local colleges.

Mdm. Xu Lin said finally that "I hope more Chinese people can understand the importance of developing Confucius Institutes. As a grand stage, Confucius Institutes show cultures of all countries to be appreciated by people of respective countries and the world as a whole. In doing so, Confucius Institutes are not just a pioneering work enabling Chinese culture to go global, but an initiative for and contribution to the building of a harmonious world."