A PRESTIGIOUS award given to University College Cork has raised hopes for funding for a dedicated centre for Chinese culture and language on campus.
The UCC Confucius Institute was named Confucius Institute of the Year for its work delivering Chinese language and culture teaching in 33 Irish schools to more than 4,000 students since its inception four years ago.
Staff at the institute are hopeful that the Confucius Institute headquarters in China will help fund a purpose-built centre in UCC following presentation of the award. A site has been set aside for the structure. Director of the UCC Confucius Institute Prof Fan Hong said she hoped the institute would now look favourably on the Cork project.
“A dedicated [Confucius Institute] building for the local community and for Ireland would be symbolic of the friendship between China and Ireland and between the twinned cities of Cork and Shanghai,” she said.
“We have put a lot of effort and work into promoting mutual understanding between Ireland and China, not just this year but over the past four years.”
The institute won the award at a ceremony at the annual Confucius Institute Global Conference, held in Beijing last month. It was selected from 338 institutes worldwide.
With 18 full-time staff, the centre is finalising plans to celebrate the Chinese new year on January 23rd.