Hanban provides a grant for the establishment of the Confucius Institute in Auckland (Linked to Record ID#91389)

Project narrative

On March 22nd, 2005, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) and the University of Auckland signed an agreement to establish the Confucius Institute in Auckland. As part of the agreement, Hanban is obligated to provide teaching materials, an annual fund, and numbers of Chinese instructors. Hanban also agreed to provide and fund a full-time Deputy Director from Fudan University to assist the institute. The funds are dispersed through a special account for independent accounting created by the institute. The agreement has a 5-year validity and automatically renews at the end of every 5-year term. The agreement has been renewed on December 19th, 2014 and December 11th, 2019. On May 12th, 2006, the University of Auckland and Fudan University, the cooperating partner, signed a supplementary implementation agreement. Fudan University agreed to provide visiting teachers annually, donate teaching materials, and receive student study groups. On February 26th, 2007, the Confucius Institute in Auckland officially opened, becoming the first Confucius Institute in New Zealand. The institute has been awarded Confucius Institute of the Year in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012. In 2010, the institute started its Mandarin Language Assistants (MLAs) program, placing Chinese Masters students from the University of Auckland's Chinese partner universities into local classrooms. As of 2018, the institute has taught more than 130,000 students and brought 250 MLAs into the Auckland region. On July 9th, 2014, the institute opened a satellite office at the University of Otago to support language teaching in local Dunedin schools. On November 6th, 2018, the institute was awarded "Model Confucius Institute" status. As part of the designation, Hanban provided additionally financing in refurbishing the Pembridge House as premises for the institute. This project is tracked separately under ID#91389. On December 7th, 2021, due to the reorganization of Hanban's responsibilities into the Chinese International Education Foundation, Fudan has assumed greater funding responsibility of the institute. The Confucius Institute in Auckland oversaw the following 13 Confucius Classrooms: - ID#91838: Glenfield Intermediate School - ID#91839: Henderson Intermediate School - ID#91840: Holy Cross School - ID#91841: Parnell District School - ID#91842: St Peter's College - ID#91843: ACG Strathallan - ID#91850: Kelston Intermediate - ID#91844: Meadowbank School - ID#91845: New Lynn School - ID#91846: New Zealand College of Chinese Medicine - ID#91847: Fairfield and Hillcrest - ID#91848: Westlake Boys High School - ID#91849: Willow Park Primary School