Summary

Earlier this week, the Centre for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) was launched by China’s Ministry of Education , replacing some of the functions previously covered by China’s Confucius Institute Headquarters (also known as ‘Hanban’).

As an affiliated institution to the Minitry of Education, the CLEC will replace Hanban, aiming to continue cooperation with international partners and to facilitate exchanges of Chinese language teaching and learning.

The CLEC’s main functions will include:

  • developing an international Chinese language teaching resource system
  • setting international Chinese language teaching standards
  • supporting training for teachers and curriculum development
  • hosting Chinese language teaching certification tests and organising international Chinese language exchanges and cooperation activities

The ‘Confucius Institute’ brand will now instead be managed by the Chinese International Foundation, a new non-governmental organisation established in June comprising 27 Chinese universities and enterprises.

According to CLEC officials, the change is expected to bring in more diversified support from partners, and to mobilise resources in a more flexible way for operations and fundraising. The initial members of the Foundation are 17 Chinese universities hosting Confucius Institutes, four Chinese education publishing and technology groups, and six other institutes including the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching.

The first Confucius Institute was established in 2004, and by 2019 there were more than 540 Institutes and nearly 1200 Confucius Classrooms across 162 countries. Most of these were established with partnering overseas universities or institutions. In the UK, there are currently 30 Confucius Institutes, with three additional Confucius Classrooms.

Analysis

Recently a number of universities in the US, Canada and other European countries have closed their Confucius Institutes after raised concerns about the function of the institute and its operation overseas.  Transferring the management of Confucius Institutes to a Chinese NGO may be part of the Chinese government's move to dispel various concerns that these institutes have been used as a tool for spreading propaganda in overseas universities.

Sources:

1. Official announcement in Chinese: http://www.hanban.org/article/2020-07/05/content_810091.htm

2. Official announcement in Chinese and English: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EMOCpXY_jJICTjLo1I8QTA