Worldwide, the Confucius Institute (
Chinese: 孔子学院;
pinyin:
Kǒngzǐ Xuéyuàn) is a non-profit public educational organisation operating in approximately 160 countries and regions whose aim is to provide Chinese language and cultural training resources to foreigners as well as to facilitate cultural and educational exchanges.
The Confucius Institute seeks to meet the increased demands of foreign Chinese language students as a result of China’s rapidly growing economy as well as to foster the development of multiculturalism and to develop friendly relations between China and other countries. Over the years, the Confucius Institutes have become a platform for cultural exchanges between China and the world as well as a bridge reinforcing friendship and cooperation between China and the rest of the world.
Confucius Institutes operate within established universities, colleges and secondary schools around the world, providing funding, teachers and educational materials. The Confucius Institute is named in honour of Confucius (
K’ung Fu-tzu), a great ancient Chinese philosopher.
For more information on the Confucius Institute, please visit the Chinese International Education Foundation website at
https://www.cief.org.cn/.
The establishment of the Confucius Institute (CI) at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus reflects the recognition at the highest levels of the campus leadership that its work needed to be internationalized if it was to transform to remain relevant to its community.
The decision to establish the CI also had the purpose of keeping the campus aligned with the goals and objectives of host country Barbados and all countries served by the campus, to deepen and expand cooperation with China.
From its establishment on April 20, 2015, the CI has reflected the steadfast commitment of the campus to the mutual goals of educational cooperation as agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding of July 7, 2014 between the CI Headquarters and the Cave Hill Campus. This has enabled the CI to equip generations of students with the knowledge to both see China as a viable option for pursuing their life objectives and with the tools to do so.
The CI is a joint undertaking of the
Cave Hill Campus and the
China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL).
In January 2021 the Cave Hill Campus and the CUPL successfully transitioned to new arrangements under the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF), - a non-governmental, charitable foundation - to which the operation of the brands of CIs and CI Classrooms were transferredIn early February of 2021 the Cave Hill Campus received from the Secretary-General of the CIEF the Certificate of Authorization, approving cooperation between the two universities to develop the CI at the Cave Hill Campus and the authority to use the brand, name and logo of “Confucius Institute”.
The CI offers a range of Chinese Language Courses and several immersive Chinese cultural activities to UWI Cave Hill students and the general public. For a quick review of what we offer, please view the video below
You may also
view our Courses and
find out about our Culture Activities