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The 12th Global Confucius Institute Conference was held in Xi’an from Dec. 13 to 14. The conference was themed on “building a community with a shared future for mankind through cooperation and innovation”. Nearly 2,500 delegates, including university presidents and representatives of Confucius Institutes from over 140 countries and regions, attended the conference. Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the State Council and Chair of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, attended and addressed the conference. Linda Davis, Provost of the University of the Bahamas, Liu Xuanfei, Vice President of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST) as well Dean and Deputy Dean of College of International Students of NUIST and Chinese Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the Bahamas attended the Conference at the invitation of the Organizing Committee. During this conference, Provost Davis and Vice President Liu also attended several Directors’ Forums and Presidents’ Forums and visited the Exhibition of Confucius Institutes’ Achievements, Confucius Institute Chinese Language Teaching Resource Exhibition and Creative Calligraphy Exhibition of College of Chinese Calligraphy.
The annual Global Confucius Institute Conference is a grand gathering for Confucius Institutes from around the globe, reputed as the “Davos” in the Educational Circle. So far there are over 525 Confucius Institutes and 1113 Confucius Classrooms in over 146 countries and regions, with a total of 9.16 million students. The Confucius Institute at the University of the Bahamas jointly set up by the University of the Bahamas and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology is the only Confucius Institute in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Apart from offering Chinese Language credit courses at the University, it also provides mandarin courses for three local high-schools and adult mandarin courses for the local community, with an accumulated number of students totaling over 3000.