The Grand Opening for the NC State Confucius Institute will take place on April 23, 2007 at the E. Carroll Joyner Visitor Center, 11am- 2pm with a reception to follow. All are welcome to the event. Guests will include officials from the Chinese Embassy to the United States, the Ministry of Education, and a delegation from Nanjing Normal University.

The NC State Institute is the seventh established in the U.S. and the first in the southeast. The institute is a partnership between NC State, Nanjing Normal University, and the Office of Chinese Language Council International under Chinese Ministry of Education.

The goal of the Confucius Institute is to enhance intercultural understanding in the U.S. by sponsoring programs in Chinese language and culture. NC State’s institute will promote the mission through a range of educational and outreach activities to students, teachers, businesses, and community members. The institute will contribute to the expansion of Chinese language instruction at NC State and in North Carolina schools, enrich cultural opportunities and help North Carolina businesses understand and compete in the Chinese market.

A number of short- and long-term plans have been established to accomplish the goal, including:

• Supporting expanded Chinese language courses offered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at NC State, with instruction provided by the Nanjing Normal University visiting professors.
• Teaching non-credit Chinese language courses (pre-college and adult) through NC State’s McKimmon Center.
• Providing professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers of Chinese, including
  • support for travel to the China-U.S. Conference on Literacy in Beijing by NC State College of Education faculty and graduate students and several public school teachers
  • access to several thousand multi-media and print materials to support courses in Chinese language and culture provided to NC State by the Chinese Language Council International
  • planning and staffing a summer workshop sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia Network (NC TAN), in conjunction with the NC Japan Center at NC State and UNC Chapel Hill
• Partnering with local schools to promote Chinese language and culture and develop new Chinese programs, including
  • a three-week “summer camp” in Beijing for American high school students in July 2007. The NC State Confucius Institute will support up to 36 students interested in Chinese language and culture and four high school teachers for this unique opportunity to travel and study in China. Students must be high-school age and have never traveled to China; they must have taken introductory Chinese. All costs within China will be covered; students will pay half of the travel costs to China (approximately $1,500)
  • on-line Chinese courses being developed by NC Department of Public Instruction, which will be available to schools across the state
  • support for schools developing Chinese language and culture programs, such as Sanderson High School’s Chinese school partnership in Nanjing. The Confucius Institute hopes its visiting faculty can assist with Chinese language and culture instruction and that school faculty will use the Institute’s multi-media and print materials.
• Expanding NC State-Chinese partnership activities, including
  • providing logistical support for NC State’s summer study abroad program at Zhejiang University
  • collaborating with NC State’s academic programs, such as the South Asian and East Asian Studies programs, to explore collaborative programming.
• Economic development opportunities for area businesses, including
  • providing support and orientation for a delegation to China in May, including executives from the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, Chancellor Oblinger, and several NC State Deans
  • providing businesses with counseling services on conducting business in China
  • offering orientation and cultural training classes for business executives interested in doing business in China.

In addition to general financial support, the Chinese Language Council International will support several visiting professors at NC State from Nanjing Normal University each year and provide up to 5,000 volumes of books and multimedia materials.

The Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Zhou Wenzhong, and Xu Lin of the Chinese Language Council International will be present for the official opening at NC State, as will Dr. Song Yongzhong, President of Nanjing Normal University, with whom NC State has an agreement for faculty and student exchange.

Contacts:

Dr. Betsy E. Brown
Director, Confucius Institute
NC State University
919.513.7741
betsy_brown@ncsu.edu

Ms. Sarah Hall Cao
Deputy Director, Confucius Institute
NC State University
919.513.2732
sarah_cao@ncsu.edu