Five Years of Sheer Endeavour: What Data Says about Confucius Institute (2012-2017)

Founded in 2004, the Confucius Institute mainly carries out Chinese language teaching across the world and spreads Chinese culture. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the construction of the Confucius Institute and international education of Chinese language have made important progress under the sincere and candid cooperation and joint efforts of both Chinese and foreign partners.

Seize Opportunities and Achieve Fast Coverage, Realize Confucius Institute's Broad Global Coverage

Within five years, the Confucius Institute has established its presence in another 34 countries with 116 new Confucius Institutes and 541 Confucius Classrooms in primary and secondary schools. Now there are 516 Confucius Institutes and 1,076 Confucius Classrooms in primary and secondary schools in 142 countries and regions.

The number of full-time and part-time Chinese and foreign teachers has reached 46,000 and students of all kinds has reached 2.1 million (including 550,000 online students).

The Confucius Institute has established 135 Confucius Institutes and 130 Confucius Classrooms in primary and secondary schools from 51 countries along the “Belt and Road”. In 2016, the Confucius Institutes had 460,000 registered students and its cultural events had an audience of 2.7 million people, with 37.3% and 14% year on year growth respectively. The region along the “Belt and Road” has become the fastest-growing one in the world.

Regarding to the number of countries covered, affiliated agencies, teachers and students, the Confucius Institute has become one of the largest institutions dedicated to promoting language and culture. Many foreign scholars and media said that just as the development of China’s economy, in less than ten or more years, the Confucius Institute has managed to achieve what its took western counterparts several decades or even a century to achieve, which is a miracle of the world.

Deepen Education Reform and Explore More Teaching Approaches, Global Communication System of Chinese Language and Culture Enjoys Preliminary Success

Training 200,000 person-time local teachers in different countries in the past five years.

Publishing textbooks in 54 languages，Supporting Confucius Institutes in various countries in writing over 2,100 local textbooks.

Innovating types and formats of HSK (xin han yu shui ping kao shi) and other international Chinese tests and there are over 6 million candidates around the world in 2016.

Confucius Institutes in various countries have started special courses in such fields as business, traditional Chinese medicine, martial art, arts, food, tourism, and vocational skills training, and also conducted plenty of research and lectures on Chinese culture and modern Chinese academy.

The number of Model Confucius Institutes reaches 48 in 30 countries. The Model Confucius Institute have played an exemplary and leading role in expanding schooling scale, improving schooling quality and etc.

Besides financially aiding over 1,500 foreign youths and scholars to pursue a doctor's degree or further their studies, the Confucius Institute have also actively committed to cooperation between their host countries and China in sister schools, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, friendly provinces and states, and economic and trade contacts.

Strengthen Standard Building and Enhance Assessment and Supervision, Schooling Quality and Level Widely Acknowledged

The Confucius Institute have elaborately formulated and improved international standards for Chinese language teachers, standards for learning, course syllabus, test syllabus and textbook compilation guide, establishing and completing the quality assessment system of international Chinese teaching for the first time.

The Confucius Institute has enhanced the construction of the Confucius Institute for Directors, the Model Confucius Institute, and the Confucius Institute Online, organized Chinese and foreign experts to conduct evaluation and supervision, and actively adopted third-party evaluation, achieving whole-process, full-open and full-transparent school running.

Courses of over 450 Confucius Institutes were incorporated into the credit system of their host universities.

Many Confucius Institutes have participated in developing the Chinese teaching outline or quality standards of their host countries and regions.

Build Comprehensive Platforms for Exchanges Between Chinese and Foreign Cultures, Play Increasingly Prominent Role in People-to-people and Cultural Exchanges and Public Diplomacy

In the past 5 years, the Confucius Institutes and Classrooms around the world have held more than 100,000 cultural activities with 60 million viewers.

The Confucius Institute has organized art troupes, experts and scholars from over 100 Chinese universities to hold over 3,000 cultural performances, cultural presentations and arts exhibitions in the Confucius Institutes of various countries, attracting more than 3 million viewers.

Each year, more than 500,000 teenagers actively participate in the preliminaries and finals of “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign High School and “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for University Students. Over 30,000 education officers and principals of primary and secondary schools and universities of various countries attend “Chinese Bridge” Summer Camp in China, personally experiencing Chinese culture.

Heads of state and government of the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and other countries, as well as UN Secretary General, EU President and other leaders of international organizations attended relevant events over 200 times. They praised the Confucius Institute for its positive role in promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges and friendly relations between China and foreign countries.

Driven and influenced by the Confucius Institute, over 60 countries have listed Chinese teaching into their national education systems through promulgating decrees and other means.

There are more than 170 countries offer Chinese language courses or Chinese major and the number of people worldwide studying and using Chinese has risen to 100 million.

Many prestigious experts and think tanks believe that the Confucius Institute has immensely revved up the “Chinese Language Craze” and “China Craze” on a global scale, and boosted China’s transformation from a language giant into a language power.