News Release

NC State University Opens Confucius Institute on Campus

Media Contacts:
Betsy Brown, 919/513-7741
Mick Kulikowski, News Services, 919/515-3470

April 23, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Carolina State University announced today the grand opening of an institute that will enhance understanding of Chinese culture and language, strengthen the university’s ties with China, and provide opportunities to help North Carolina businesses understand and compete in the Chinese market.

NC State’s new Confucius Institute is the first in the southeastern United States and seventh nationwide. A partnership between NC State, Nanjing Normal University and the Office of Chinese Language Council International under the Chinese Ministry of Education, the institute will provide educational and cultural opportunities currently unavailable in the Triangle region. 

NC State’s Confucius Institute will enhance intercultural understanding through a range of educational and outreach activities to students, teachers, businesses and community members. It will contribute to the expansion of Chinese language instruction at NC State and in N.C. public schools, as well as enrich cultural opportunities in the Triangle. The institute will be housed in the Jane S. McKimmon Center on campus.

In addition to providing financial support for the institute, the Chinese Language Council International will support several visiting professors at NC State from Nanjing Normal University and provide up to 5,000 volumes of books and multimedia materials.

Besides increasing Chinese language courses offered at NC State, the institute will offer non-credit Chinese language courses to adults and pre-college students.

The institute will also support professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers of Chinese, and plan and staff a summer workshop sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia Network (NC TAN), in conjunction with the N.C. Japan Center.

The institute is also partnering with local schools to promote Chinese language and culture and develop new Chinese programs, including a three-week “summer camp” in Beijing for American high school students in July 2007. The institute will support up to 36 students interested in Chinese language and culture and four high school teachers for this unique opportunity to travel and study in China. The institute is also supporting the N.C. Department of Public Instruction in a project to provide on-line Chinese courses that will be available to schools across the state.

The institute will also support other NC State-China partnerships by working with NC State’s academic programs, such as the South Asian and East Asian Studies programs, to explore collaborative programming.

The institute will help expand economic development opportunities by providing support and orientation for a delegation to China in May, including NC State Chancellor James Oblinger, several NC State deans and executives from the Research Triangle Regional Partnership; providing businesses with counseling services on conducting business in China; and offering orientation and cultural training classes for business executives interested in doing business in China.