Attendees of the Confucius Institute Awards Ceremony and Reception for the awardees of Language Scholarships and Chinese Cultural Programme
|
Nassau, BAHAMAS - The
Confucius Institute at The College of The Bahamas recently held an award
ceremony and reception at the Harry C. Moore Library and Information
Centre to honour 20 Bahamian students who will
soon travel to China to participate in the Mandarin Language
Scholarships Chinese Cultural Programme.
Institute directors,
representatives from Academic Affairs and Student Leadership, the
Programme 2016 participants, their family and friends attended the
ceremony. Also in attendance was recently appointed Ambassador
of the People’s Republic of China to The Commonwealth of The Bahamas His Excellency Huang Qinguo.
“I
hope that the Confucius Institute will continue to grow at The College
of The Bahamas. It is a good platform for stronger relationship between
The Bahamas
and China. It is an awesome opportunity for those who want to learn
Mandarin and learn about Chinese culture,” The Ambassador told the
audience.
The College of The
Bahamas students will leave for China in early July to take part in the
three-week long Chinese Cultural Programme 2016. This is the third year
that Bahamian students will take part in the program.
While in China, participants attend classes in Chinese language and
culture at NUIST, partner-university of the Confucius Institute at The
College of The Bahamas. The students will also visit important
historical and cultural sites such as the Three Kingdoms
Castle, the famous Confucius Temple in Nanjing and the Oriental Pearl
TV Tower in Shanghai. They will also take part in activities designed to
share key aspects of Bahamian culture with their Chinese hosts and
other international visitors.
The Confucius Institute
in The Bahamas is directed by Mr. Youhua Zhou, who gave a presentation
covering many aspects of Chinese culture and landscape in a brief
overview, and Mr. Haldane Chase.
Said Mr. Chase, “There
are a lot of political, economic and cultural shifts currently happening
around the world. This programme is on step towards preparing yourself
to participate meaningfully in these shifts.”
L-R: Dr. Pandora Johnson, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs at The College of The Bahamas brought remarks at the event; as did H.E. Huang Qinguo, Ambassador, People’s Republic of China.
|
Included in the
participants who will take part in the summer programme, four students,
Ian Brown, Kimnil Knowles, Cortney McDonald, and Alexandra McKenzie,
received Mandarin Language Scholarships and will be
attending Nanjing University for varying lengths of time.
Chase also went on to
explain to the students the advantage this generation has to be exposed
to diverse cultures and experiences. “You have an opportunity that many
persons in my day could not afford or imagine.”
Similarly, in her
remarks, Dr. Pandora Johnson, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs
at The College, spoke to the students’ good fortune. “You have this
opportunity which is not to be taken lightly.”
The College of The
Bahamas introduced Chinese language classes in 2007. In 2009, The
Confucius Institute headquarters approved the application by The College
to establish a Confucius classroom, with the agreement
signed in November that year. In October 2012, The College, in
collaboration with the Office of Chinese Language Council International
(Hanban) and the Nanjing University of Information, Science and
Technology, launched the Confucius Institute.
The Confucius Institute
at the College of The Bahamas, Confucius Institute Headquarters and
Nanjing University of Information, Science and Technology, Nanjing,
China are jointly sponsoring the program.
Confucius Institute is a non-profit public educational organization affiliated with theMinistry of Education of
the People's Republic of China, whose aim is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teachinginternationally, and facilitate
cultural exchanges such as the Mandarin Language Scholarships Chinese Cultural Programme.
The Confucius Institute program began in 2004 and is overseen by Hanban.
The institutes cooperate with local colleges and universities
around the world, and financing is shared between Hanban and the host
institutions. The Institute hosted at COB is among 109 Confucius
Institutes and 347 classrooms globally.