[News from the news center] On the morning of May 24,the 2018 Confucius Institute annual meeting of the University of Toledo (UT, U.S.) was heldin the first reception room of the Century Building of YSU. Mr. John Barrett, the Chair of the Board of the Confucius Institute at UT (CIUT), Mr. James Hartung and Ms. Nancy Staub, Directors on American side and Zhang Fucheng, Teng Guosheng, and Zhang Wenli, Directors on Chinese side, attended the meeting. Yu, American Dean and Han Dawei, Chinese Dean of the Confucius Institute at UT as well as Zheng Zhanguo, designate Chinese Dean, and Ms. Karen Ann Reed, Vice President of North Central State College attended the meeting. Ms. Sara Clark, Director of the Center for International Affairs at UT, hosted the meeting. Mr. John Barrett made an opening speech and Zhang Fucheng, Vice President of YSU delivered a speech. The meeting reviewed and approved the 2017 annual work and financial reports of CIUT. The meeting also planned and scheduled some major projects and the vision of CIUT’s development in 2018.
CIUT annual meeting.
Zhang Fucheng speaks at the meeting.
Mr. John Barrett, Chairman of the Board of CIUT affirmed that CIUT spares no effort to promote the exchange of language and culture between the United States and China. At the same time, with the support of the Chinese Hanban and leaders of both universities, the exchanges of teachers and students between two UT and YSU are frequent. The exchanging forms are diversified and the results of bilateral cooperation are satisfactory. It is hoped that the two universities will be able to make better use of the platform of the Confucius Institute in the future and deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two universities. In his speech, Vice President Zhang Fucheng fully affirmed the remarkable achievements made by the Confucius Institute in the past year, and pointed out that the work of the Confucius Institute is aimed at communicating the sentiments, promoting friendship, and facilitating exchanges between the two universities, the two cities, and different civilizations. CIUT has been playing an irreplaceable role in this course.
It is hoped that in the new year and even longer, the two sides will uphold the concept of "co-construction, co-management, co-operation, and win-win" and work closely to make full use of the platform of Confucius Institute to promote the exchange of language and culture between China and the United States. At the same time, the Confucius Institute will also strengthen its own construction, actively expand its work space, earnestly enhance its working ability, and constantly enrich its working assumptions to meet the increasing needs and higher expectations of universities and communities, and to maximize the value of diversity in the Confucius Institute in order to promote the exchange of education, economic and trade cooperation between the two universities and the two cities.
At the meeting, some issues were thoroughly discussed and consensus and agreement were reached, it involved some agenda such as the annual meeting time, the responsibilities and rules of the Board members, the Chinese teachers’ employment, the tenth anniversary celebration activities of the Confucius Institutes, the teacher-student exchange programs based on CIUT, and special scholarships among other topics.
Before the annual meeting, UT and the Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban renewed the cooperation agreement of the Confucius Institute, which indicated that the cooperation between the two universities will open up a new journey.
[Translated by Lv Bo]
