From May 4 to 8, Wu Yi, Chairman of SUIBE Council, led a delegation to visit Croatia and Slovenia to further deepen educational exchanges and cooperation between the university and key partner institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, and to promote the high-quality development of internationalized education. The delegation was joined by relevant faculty members from International Office, Human Resources Office, School of Law, and School of Event and Communication.
During the delegation’s stay in Slovenia on the first three days of the visit, it conducted in-depth exchanges with the Confucius Institute at the University of Ljubljana (Ljubljana Confucius Institute), the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana.
At Ljubljana Confucius Institute, Danijela Voljc, foreign director of the institute, elaborated on the institute’s achievements over the past 16 years, especially the milestone progress of successfully incorporating Chinese language education into the Slovenian national education system. The two sides further built consensus on the future development of the institute.
During the visit to the Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana, the delegation held talks with Tomaž Turk, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Mateja Drnovšek, Vice Dean in change of Development Affairs, Polona Domadenik, Vice Dean for Research and Doctoral Talent Cultivation, and Darja Saksida Bogataj, Head of the International Office.
During the visit to the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, the delegation held talks with Lea Kremič, Head of the Faculty international office , Jerca Kramberger Škerl, the coordinator of the faculty international exchange, conducting in-depth discussions on the talent cultivation needs for foreign-related rule of law, and exploring topics such as expanding faculty and student exchanges and scientific research cooperation.
During the stay in Slovenia, the delegation paid a special visit to the Celje Centre High School Confucius Classroom and held an exchange with Rok Lipnik, the school principal, gaining an in-depth understanding of the Ljubljana Confucius Institute cooperation achievements in basic education.
From May 6 to 8, the delegation successively visited the University of Zagreb, the Confucius Institute co-established by SUIBE and the University of Zagreb (the Zagreb Confucius Institute), the University of Dubrovnik, and the Zagreb Branch of Norinco International Cooperation Ltd.
During the visit to the Zagreb Confucius Institute, the delegation toured the institute’s office space and teaching facilities, and held discussions with both Chinese and foreign directors and all its faculty members. Some state-sponsored teachers dispatched to the institute and volunteer teachers also participated joined the discussion online.
During the visit to the University of Zagreb, the delegation held meetings with Jurica Pavicic, the Vice Rector of University of Zagreb, Kresimir Jurak, Director of the International office and Foreign Director of the Zagreb Confucius Institute, and Sanja Sever Mališ, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business.
During the visit to the University of Dubrovnik, the delegation held in-depth exchanges on expanding student exchanges and broadening multi-field cooperation with Marijana Pećarević, the Vice Rector of the University of Dubrovnik, Sandra Memunić, Head of the International Office, and Nikolina Potrebica, International Exchange Coordinator from the University of Dubrovnik.
During the visit, the delegation also paid calls to the Chinese Embassy in Slovenia and the Chinese Embassy in Croatia respectively, and received guidance and suggestions from the embassies on how the university can further contribute to China’s opening-up in education, give full play to the role of the Confucius Institute platform, and continue to deepen university cooperation and exchanges between China and Slovenia and between China and Croatia.
Translated by Shao Rongrong