Confucius Institute to be opened at Tallinn University
On March 6th, the rector of Tallinn University, prof. Rein Raud, isvisiting the People鈥檚 Republic of China in order to finish the process ofestablishing the Confucius Institute at Tallinn University. The process wasinitiated in 2008 and by now an agreement has been signed with theheadquarters of the Confucius Institute in Beijing. On Tuesday, March 9th,prof. Rein Raud will sign a cooperation agreement with its new partneruniversity, Guangxi University in Nanning.
Establishing the institute is an important step for Tallinn University, as
it will further enhance Chinese language and cultural studies, which
already have a long tradition in the university. In addition to academic
studies on all levels, the institute will also offer courses on China to
everyone, from language training to a providing wider knowledge of Chinese
culture and society. From now on, students Chinese in the Middle Eastern
and Asian studies department (and others) will find it easier and less
costly to study the language in China, thanks to the partner university in
Nanning. Economically, the institute will be open to equal funding from
Tallinn University as well as from China, ensuring that the quality of
instruction in the required amount is maintained.According to the rector,
this project was made possible thanks to the support of the Estonian
Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Embassy in China. 鈥淚n
fact, we鈥檝e had quite a lot of cooperation with other Confucius
Institutes. For example, we have close ties with the institute at the
University of Helsinki, our good partner. Cooperation on Chinese language
and culture studies has often brought us together with other Confucius
Institutes across Europe, as well. I imagine this network will expand even
more: as far as I know, our institute is currently the only one of its kind
in the Baltic states. However, Vilnius is also planning a similar institute
and we hope to have close ties with them, too. Within our university, the
Confucius Institute will assume the role of carrying out Chinese language
and culture instruction, and we will also develop new ways of studying in
cooperation with Guangxi. For instance, the Ministry of Education and
Research has already started to the explore the possibility of training
Chinese language teachers for general education schools. In Estonia,
as in the rest of the world, several schools have begun teaching Chinese at
the pre-university level and I鈥檓 sure this need will escalate even
further in the future,鈥 noted prof. Rein Raud.Language training and
weekly lectures make up only a part of the institute鈥檚 programme. The
institute has plans to organise both popular science and extracurricular
academic lectures, film nights and celebrate Chinese national holidays.
Naturally, students will also be also to take the standardized Chinese
proficiency test (HSK) at Tallinn University in the nearest future.For more
information, please contact:Kadri SundjaProject Manager, Confucius
InstitutePhone: +372 56642861E-mail: kadri.sundja@tlu.ee
it will further enhance Chinese language and cultural studies, which
already have a long tradition in the university. In addition to academic
studies on all levels, the institute will also offer courses on China to
everyone, from language training to a providing wider knowledge of Chinese
culture and society. From now on, students Chinese in the Middle Eastern
and Asian studies department (and others) will find it easier and less
costly to study the language in China, thanks to the partner university in
Nanning. Economically, the institute will be open to equal funding from
Tallinn University as well as from China, ensuring that the quality of
instruction in the required amount is maintained.According to the rector,
this project was made possible thanks to the support of the Estonian
Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Embassy in China. 鈥淚n
fact, we鈥檝e had quite a lot of cooperation with other Confucius
Institutes. For example, we have close ties with the institute at the
University of Helsinki, our good partner. Cooperation on Chinese language
and culture studies has often brought us together with other Confucius
Institutes across Europe, as well. I imagine this network will expand even
more: as far as I know, our institute is currently the only one of its kind
in the Baltic states. However, Vilnius is also planning a similar institute
and we hope to have close ties with them, too. Within our university, the
Confucius Institute will assume the role of carrying out Chinese language
and culture instruction, and we will also develop new ways of studying in
cooperation with Guangxi. For instance, the Ministry of Education and
Research has already started to the explore the possibility of training
Chinese language teachers for general education schools. In Estonia,
as in the rest of the world, several schools have begun teaching Chinese at
the pre-university level and I鈥檓 sure this need will escalate even
further in the future,鈥 noted prof. Rein Raud.Language training and
weekly lectures make up only a part of the institute鈥檚 programme. The
institute has plans to organise both popular science and extracurricular
academic lectures, film nights and celebrate Chinese national holidays.
Naturally, students will also be also to take the standardized Chinese
proficiency test (HSK) at Tallinn University in the nearest future.For more
information, please contact:Kadri SundjaProject Manager, Confucius
InstitutePhone: +372 56642861E-mail: kadri.sundja@tlu.ee