(UH Mānoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman accepts the award for “Confucius Institute of the Year: 2015” from People’s Republic of China Vice Premier Liu Yandong.)
By Staff Reports
(Oahu)– The Confucius Institute at UH Mānoa’s Center for Chinese Studies has been named a 2015 Confucius Institute of the Year by the People’s Republic of China. Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman received the award last week in Shanghai from Mme. Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China.
The award signifies outstanding achievement in promoting Chinese language and area studies, and supporting exchange between Chinese and U.S. educational institutions.
“I was greatly honored to accept this award, which signifies the excellent caliber of teaching, research and activities at our Center for Chinese Studies and School of Asian and Pacific Studies,” said Bley-Vroman. “This recognition should be shared with our students pursuing degrees in Chinese studies, our entire campus and the greater Chinese community in Hawai‘i.”
The Confucius Institute supports instruction and research in Chinese language and disciplinary studies, and offers a range of scholarship support to students interested in learning about and studying in China. There are approximately 500 Confucius Institutes in the world, of which about 100 are in the U.S. and only one in Hawaiʻi.
The UH Mānoa Confucius Institute was established in November 2006 in collaboration with the elite Beijing Foreign Studies University. It is part of the UH Mānoa’s Center for Chinese Studies, which offers more than 150 courses on China.
The Confucius Institute supports credit courses in university language and area studies departments. It offers non-credit weekend language courses through the Outreach College, as well as community activities such as pedagogic workshops, research seminars, academic symposia, distinguished speakers, film screenings, exhibitions, performance tours, school visitations and calligraphy and speech contests, and an annual summer teacher training and language camp.
Video documentation of many of its programs may be viewed at http://confuciusinstitutehawaii.org/.