Cook Islands Confucius Classroom wins global award

OUT of the 1113 Confucius Classrooms in the world, the University of the South Pacific's Cook Islands Confucius Classroom won the Confucius Classroom of the Year Award last week.

The award, which was given out at the 12th Global Confucius Institute Conference at Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in China, was accepted by USP's Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Law, and Education (FALE), Dr Akanisi Kedrayate.

"This award is not only an honour to the Confucius Institute of USP and our Confucius Classrooms but also an acknowledgement of the support and assistance by USP," said Dr Kedrayate.

The Confucius Classroom at USP Cook Islands was set up in 2015 to prepare Cook Islanders with skills in the language and culture of the region's most important economic power and increase their future international career prospects.

Confucius Classrooms are a national network of exemplary Chinese language programs that not only have effective Chinese language instruction, but also strong local leadership and support, and a demonstrated commitment to international exchange and collaboration.

USP Cook Islands campus director Rod Dixon congratulated the past and present staff of the USP Cook Islands Confucius Classroom - Wang Xiaoshi, Lu Xiaoning and Li Hongfei - whose hard work and dedication had been recognised and rewarded by this prestigious international prize.

The Confucius Classroom was established by USP and the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT).

The other four winners of the award were Finham Park School in England; Rainbow Confucius Classroom in the Republic of Korea, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematician USA and Askia Mohamed School in Mali.

(By ALISI VUCAGO The Fiji Times Online)