Founded in May 2007, the Office of Confucius Institutes at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) is the first specialized division on Confucius Institutes in Chinese universities. Its functions include the following seven areas: daily communication and coordination of Confucius Institutes, formulation and implementation of rules and regulations, staff training and selection, information mining, project planning and implementation, study of best operation models as well as emergency management and problem solving. At present, the Office has one Director, one Deputy Director, three Program Officers, two Project Managers and three Project Assistants.
With the missions of “introducing China to the world and the world to China” as well as its academic strength, BFSU has played an active role in the international promotion of Chinese language under the guidance of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Confucius Institutes Headquarters/Hanban since 2005, especially through the establishment of Confucius Institutes. By September 2015, BFSU has established 21 Confucius Institutes in collaboration with universities, colleges and institutions from 17 countries in Asia, Europe and America, ranking the first among Chinese universities; it has also sent a total of about 60 Deputy Directors, 100 Chinese teachers and 400 volunteer Chinese teachers to Confucius Institutes in these countries. Due to its excellent work, BFSU has won the award of “Outstanding Confucius Institute Chinese Partner” twice. Confucius Institutes co-established by BFSU were awarded the “Confucius Institutes of the Year” for 11 times, the “Confucius Institute Pioneer Award” for once, the “Excellence Award for Individual Performance at the Confucius Institute” or the “Outstanding Contribution Award” for 13 times, and the “Outstanding Chinese Language Teaching Resources Award” once. Three of the Confucius Institutes co-hosted by BFSU have become the first batch of “Model Confucius Institute” (totally 14 in the world).
BFSU is among the first batch of 12 Chinese universities that prepared full-time Chinese language teachers and among 14 Chinese Universities that implemented the “Confucius China Studies Program”. By 2015, BFSU has hosted 30 full-time Chinese language teachers and received 21 Doctoral students for the “Confucius China Studies Program”.
Through great efforts and innovation, the Confucius Institutes at BFSU has become a platform for the training of internationalized talents and teaching staff, and has made unique contribution to international communication and cooperation among domestic and overseas universities, Chinese “go globe” strategy research as well as multi-language translation, training and publication for the purpose of international promotion of Chinese language. The network of 21 Confucius Institutes of BFSU also provides opportunities for cross-cultural communication, resource sharing and enhancing friendship and dialogues between China and the world.
