FROM LEFT: Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Professor Clive Landis, Chairman of the China University of Political Science and Law, Professor Hu Ming; Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Eudine Barriteau; Deputy-General of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Hanban, JING Wei; Minister of Education, Ronald Jones and Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China to Barbados, Her Excellency Wang Ke, applauding following the unveiling of the Cave Hill Confucius Institute

FROM LEFT: Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Professor Clive Landis, Chairman of the China University of Political Science and Law, Professor Hu Ming; Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Eudine Barriteau; Deputy-General of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Hanban, JING Wei; Minister of Education, Ronald Jones and Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China to Barbados, Her Excellency Wang Ke, applauding following the unveiling of the Cave Hill Confucius Institute signage.

Confucius Institute officially opened

THE home of the Confucius Institute, which offers intercultural communication and builds closer cultural ties between Beijing and Barbados, has been officially opened at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus.
Since its establishment in April 2015, the Confucius Institute has been a vibrant component of the Cave Hill Campus, beginning teaching on campus six months after its inauguration.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Thursday evening, Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Eudine Barriteau, said the Campus is pleased it was able to deliver the iconic Chinese building, which bears witness to UWI’s commitment to its Chinese partners and to internationalising the vision and work of the Campus.

She said, to date, hundreds of university students have benefited from instruction at four levels of teaching, and indicated that overall, the very presence of a Confucius Institute adds significantly to Cave Hill’s academic and co-curricular programming, and its already proving transformation to the development of students from across the region.

Barriteau reported that long-term pilot projects in the teaching of the Chinese language at two nearby schools are reaping remarkable success in helping young citizens to understand Chinese language and culture from an early age.

At Ellerslie Secondary School, the Institute has been teaching three groups of 12-14 year olds for a total of two hours per week.

The 21 best students were selected to sit the YCT level 1 examination earlier this month. At Stephen’s Primary School, four classes, totalling 120 students, have received introductory Chinese language and culture classes, through a programme which started in February last year.

“On the Campus, the Institute has been working with the Department of Languages, Literature and Linguistics to develop a minor in Chinese to be taught within the Faculty of Humanities and Education.

“The proposal has undergone a first round review by the University’s Academic Quality Assurance Committee, and it is expected that it will be offered in the second semester of the 2017-2018 academic year,” Barriteau said.

The Principal also announced that come September, the Institute will begin teaching Chinese language and culture courses that are part of the BSc Software Engineering. The second tier of the innovative programme will be taught at the UWI China Institute of Information Technology (UWICIIT). UWICITT is a joint venture between The UWI and the Global Institute of Software Technology (GIST) in Suzhou.

“This programme has the potential to revolutionise the region’s skills base in software technology and mobile applications,” the Principal said.

Meanwhile, in delivering remarks, Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China to Barbados, Her Excellency Wang Ke, recalled that since the first Confucius Institute was officially set up at UWI Mona Campus in 2009, five more Institutes and one Confucius Class took their roots in the English Speaking Caribbean countries.

The Ambassador explained that today, the first ever Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in the Caribbean is held and UWI is selected to play host, which not only reflects the thriving development of the Confucius Institutes in the Caribbean, but also lauds the one after another achievements Confucius Institute Cave Hill has proudly made.

“As Chinese Ambassador, I always reflect on the thriving force to the vigorous development of the Confucius Institutes in the Caribbean. Firstly, it is the unique Chinese culture and the civilisation of 5000 years that allure many more people to know China.

“Secondly, it is the remarkable economic and social achievements in China’s contribution to the world development that propel the Caribbean countries to understand China’s story and seize opportunities to benefit from China’s development.

“Thirdly, it is the continuous growing and deepening of China-Caribbean win-win co-operation in all sectors in recent years that prompt a wave of enthusiasm about China and Chinese language in the Caribbean,” the Ambassador said.
Minister of Education, who applauded the establishment of the Institute and its home, said the development of Barbados’ relationship with China aptly demonstrates father of Independence, Errol Walton Barrow’s declaration that Barbados should be friends of all and satellites of none.

“This building of relationship... this building of bridges, is really a great reflection of two great people . . . long may the friendship grow, long may you have greater understanding of the history and culture of our people as we continue to have a greater of the history and culture and language of your people,” Jones said. (AH)

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