Hanban provides a grant for the establishment of Confucius Institute at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Project narrative

On December 5, 2018, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUT) signed an agreement to establish the Confucius Institute at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Under the agreement, Hanban is obligated to provide funding to the institute. As the Ministry of Education of China sets very strict criteria for the establishment of Confucius Institutes, systematic efforts for the creation of the Confucius Institute at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki started in 2011 and intensified after 2014. The agreement was signed at the 13th World Conference of Confucius Institutes. The cooperating partner for the project is Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). On November 8, 2021, an opening ceremony was held for the Confucius Institute, but the institute started operation in the 2019-2020 academic year. The Confucius Institute at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the second institute to be created in Greece.