The award is in recognition of the impact made by the Confucius Institute on Chinese language teaching and cultural programmes in New Zealand.
The award ceremony took place at the annual global conference of Confucius Institutes in Shanghai on 6 - 7 December, hosted by the Education Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Government, one of the largest education administrations in China. The global conference was attended by some 2400 representatives of Confucius Institutes around the world and their international university partners. CI VUW was represented by the Chair of the Advisory Board Tony Browne, Director Wen Powles and Deputy Director Yang Xiaoqing.
CI VUW joined 19 other Confucius Institutes recognised this year as the outstanding performers out of the 500 Confucius Institutes across 134 countries. These 500 Confucius Institutes together deliver Chinese classes to some 2 million students.
Wen Powles says Victoria’s Confucius Institute has provided support to the Chinese classes of 90 schools in New Zealand, including te kura kaupapa in the Bay of Plenty, reaching over 12,300 primary, intermediate, high school and tertiary students in total.
“China is an important international link for Victoria University and our Confucius Institute plays an active role in that relationship.”