Mr. Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NationalPeople’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China,officially launched the Confucius Institute at the University ofZagreb in Croatia by unveiling a plaque with the name of theinstitute at 9 a.m. local time on 19 May 2012. Present at theopening ceremony were Ren Jingwei, Vice Director of Hanban (theChinese Language Council International), Sun Haiming, SIFTPresident, Aleksa Bjeli?, Rector of the University of Zagreb, andKresimir Jurak, Co-director of the Confucius Institute at theUniversity of Zagreb.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb was the secondsuch institution established by SIFT in Central and Eastern Europe,following the inauguration of the Confucius Institute at theUniversity of Ljubljana in Slovenia in 2010. SIFT is currentlyplanning to set up a Center for Central and Eastern EuropeanStudies based on the two institutions in Europe. Starting fromSeptember 2012, five faculty members from SIFT Language School andBusiness School will be visiting prestigious universities in thetwo countries.
The Confucius Institute is a bridge to international cooperationand exchange between China and the rest of the world. During thepast two years, SIFT increased its cooperation with universities inCentral and Eastern Europe in many fields. SIFT has set up theStudent Internship Center, Student Exchange Center, and VolunteerChinese Teacher Center in the region. Later this year, SIFT is toscheduled to launch Confucius Classrooms in the region to expandcultural exchanges and cooperation from universities tokindergartens as well as secondary and primary schools.