The Confucius Institute at the University of Cape Coast (CIUCC) has hosted a team from the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese government.
The delegation, which comprised reporters and Tuo Zhen, Editor-in-chief of China’s People’s Daily newspaper, paid a familiarisation visit to the CIUCC to see at firsthand the operations of the Confucius Institute.
The team was received by the Ghana Director of the CIUCC, Prof. Amo Ofori, and the China Director at CIUCC, Prof. Ou Yamei.
Students of the CIUCC treated the delegation to performances such as Chinese dance, opera and songs.
During the meeting, Prof. Amo explained the operations of the CIUCC at the University to the visiting team. He said since its inception, CIUCC has had a tremendous impact on Ghana.
The Ghana Director noted that in partnership with UCC, the Institute had started a BA Chinese Language and Culture programme to expose more students to Chinese language and culture. The institute also has over 23 other courses of study.
The visiting delegation with directors of the CIUCC and students
“CIUCC is also a certified HSK test centre and has won the Excellent Test Centre award for 2023. Soon, CIUCC will become a West African Test Centre for the Chinese language,” he continued.
In July 2022, he added, the Language Exchange and Cooperation Centre of the Ministry of Education of China and the Ministry of Education of Ghana signed the Memorandum of Understanding on introducing Chinese into the curriculum of high schools in Ghana.
He said the Institute had also facilitated its students to gain scholarships for further studies abroad.
“Every year, CIUCC trains over 11,000 students. This year, Margeret Amoabeng, a student of the Institute, won the grand prize for the 17th Chinese Bridge Competition for senior high schools and Lilian Tobias won the grand prize for the 23rd Chinese Bride Competition for University student category. This means our students will be representing Ghana in the global finals in China. This is an unprecedented achievement in Ghana, making CIUCC an outstanding Confucius Institute, in terms of student development,” the Ghana Director indicated.
The China Director of CIUCC, Prof. Ou Yamei in a shot with Tuo Zhen, Editor-in-chief of China’s People’s Daily newspaper
According to him, in December 2023, CIUCC organised a delegation to attend the first Global Chinese Conference in Beijing, China.
The delegation, Prof. Ofori stated, included the Deputy Minister of Education of Ghana, the Central Regional Minister of Ghana, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, and other dignitaries.
“During the visit, the University of Cape Coast through CIUCC signed an MOU with the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Sichuan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for setting up a Schuan-Ghana Traditional Chinese Medicine Centre. The centre will serve as a hub for fostering collaboration across various domains, including medical talent dispatch and exchange, hospital department construction, medical equipment sharing, and collaborative medical research,” he added.
He said the teaching of the Chinese language in Ghana had expanded Chinese culture and strengthened its local influence.
The Ghana Director of CIUCC in a photo with some members of the People’s Daily newspaper delegation
Prof. Ofori said the Confucius Institute at UCC would continue to work hard to help more Ghanaian students learn Chinese and obtain scholarships to study in China.
For his part, Tuo Zhen commended the Confucius Institute at UCC for its immense achievement in the promotion of the Chinese language and culture.
He said the Chinese culture plays an important role in promoting mutual understanding and exchanges between Ghana and China and therefore expressed gratitude to the management of UCC for supporting the development of the Chinese language and culture at the CIUCC.
Tuo Zhen explained that whatever story was put out by the People’s Daily had a national character and commended the institute for its efforts at creating opportunities for the Ghanaian youth.
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Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC
