Hanban provides a grant for the establishment of the Confucius Institute at De Montfort University

Project narrative

On February 4, 2013, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), De Montfort University, Sun Wah Group, and the University of Science and Technology Beijing -- the partner university -- signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in establishing the Confucius Institute at De Montfort University. On the same day, Hanban and De Montfort University signed an agreement establishing the institute. As part of the agreement, Hanban is obligated to provide 3,000 volumes of teaching materials, a $150,000 USD start-up fund, and numbers of Chinese instructors. The funds are dispersed through a local Bank of China account or other approved bank account created by the institute. The agreement has a 5-year validity and automatically renews at the end of every 5-year term. An official implementation agreement for the Confucius Institute at De Montfort University (DMU) was also signed between the University of Science and Technology in Beijing (USTB) and DMU. Under the agreement, USTB agreed to give partial funding, donate teaching materials, provide instructors, and receive students from De Montfort University. On March 19, 2014, the grand inauguration ceremony of the Confucius Institute was held at DMU, Leicester, UK, followed by the first Joint Board Meeting of members from both universities. On August 31, 2015, Hanban sponsored the institute's first Leicestershire room (a Confucius Classroom) to be build in Little Bowden Primary School. This program supported Chinese language classes at the primary school. Later, this classroom would be used as a branch test centre to administer Chinese language proficiency tests. DMU Confucius Institute supports more than 40 schools across the country, providing formal mandarin classes to over 3000 school children through formal classes, clubs, and Mandarin taster lessons. The Confucius Institute at the De Montfort University oversaw the following Confucius Classroom: - ID#90914: Little Bowden Primary