Meeting in Hangzhou formally extended Confucius Institute at MTSU for
five years
HANGZHOU, China — Middle Tennessee State University and Hangzhou Normal University on
Monday extended its Confucius Institute partnership — and discussed an idea to
expand it with the creation of a Chinese music and cultural center at MTSU.
MTSU President Sidney
A. McPhee and HNU President Du Wei signed a second five-year pact between the
two universities that allows MTSU’s successful Confucius Institute to continue
its work with HNU to promote Chinese language, history and culture. It will
bring at least $500,000 in grant funding to the Murfreesboro campus.
The partners, at the
annual advisory board meeting held at one of Hangzhou’s three campuses in the
city, also discussed future plans, which may include a cultural and music
center at MTSU that would be substantially funded through a separate grant from
Confucius headquarters.
Plans for the center
were first reported by China Daily on May 12 in a report on the speech by Madam
Xu Lin, director-general of the worldwide Confucius organization, who delivered
one of the spring commencement addresses at MTSU.
“The development of
this center would be a vital and exciting project for both of our
universities,” McPhee said. “It capitalizes upon several of our unique resources
as well as the regional and international relationships we have developed.”
Among those resources,
McPhee said, are MTSU’s School of Music in the College of Liberal Arts and the
Center for Popular Music and the departments of Recording Industry and Electronic
Media Communication in the College of Mass Communication.
“Our vision for the
center is to complement and expand the cultural services we are now offering
through our Confucius Institute,” the president said. “We will promote music as
a vital element in education and cultural understanding.”
Du, a violin player
himself, said he has been enthusiastic about the idea ever since he learned
about the proposal from McPhee in December. “If you need our support,” he said,
“we will organize some people and resources.”
The universities have
been asked to submit a final proposal for the center in July to Hanban, the
worldwide headquarters for Confucius.
Also, Du and McPhee
pledged to work cooperatively to participate in the worldwide celebration of
the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Confucius Institute in
late September. “It’s another great opportunity to underscore the value of our
partnership and affiliation,” McPhee said.
“We all appreciate our
relationship, our partnership,” Du said of HNU’s ties to MTSU. “I think, for
us, this is a very important moment in our history.”
Confucius Institute, named after the ancient Chinese
philosopher Confucius, is sponsored by China’s Education Ministry to promote
Chinese language, history and culture through tours, exchanges and university
partnerships. There are more than 440 institutes in 120 countries.
The ceremony at Hangzhou
was the second stop of McPhee’s latest visit to China, where he is expected to
establish or renew MTSU’s ties with academic partners in Beijing, Hangzhou,
Ningbo, Shanghai, Changsha, Zhangjiajie and Xi’an.
Also, on Friday, McPhee
was asked to present leadership strategies and tactics to about 75 top and
middle managers at Hanban in Beijing.
Under McPhee’s watch, MTSU’s international student
enrollment has increased from 396 to 789 in five years, and the university has
335 students in its education abroad programs this summer. It has more than 40
exchange agreements with institutions
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