Students can study Chinese at Rhodes University, thanks to the Chinese Ministry of Education-run Hanban. With the Confucius Institute of Rhodes University (CIRU) as a base, the Chinese Culture Centre was launched on 36 Somerset Street late last year.
Students can study Chinese at Rhodes University, thanks to the Chinese Ministry of Education-run Hanban. With the Confucius Institute of Rhodes University (CIRU) as a base, the Chinese Culture Centre was launched on 36 Somerset Street late last year.
The centre provides an environment for both intensive study and the practice of Chinese cultural activities, such as calligraphy and tai chi.
The centre was jointly sponsored by Rhodes University, Jinian University in China and the Hanban. The Hanban is an institution run by the Chinese Ministry of Education, which provides resources to students around the world studying Chinese.
Most notably, the Hanban sponsors the Confucius Institutes.
These are educational programs comparable to the Goethe Institutes for the study of German. According to the University of Cape Town branch of their website, they promote “the learning of Chinese language and culture, and a broader and more informed understanding of China”.
There are more than 300 Confucius Institutes worldwide. In 2009, Rhodes became the second university in the country to receive the support of a Confucius Institute, after Stellenbosch.
There are now also Institutes at UCT and the Durban University of Technology. Marius Vermaak, the director of the Confucius Institute at Rhodes, says Chinese would not be offered at Rhodes if it was not for Hanban’s support.
“The financial pressure is such that Rhodes would not make that decision. Rhodes benefits – at almost no cost – from the expertise of an experienced Chinese professor assisted by volunteer teachers, all with MA qualifications in Teaching Chinese as a second Language.”
The Confucius Institute also reaches out beyond Rhodes University, with teaching programmes at both DSG and Saint Andrew’s College.
They also support literacy NGO, Upstart, and the second year Chinese Studies course includes a service learning component that teaches the Upstart teenagers about Chinese culture.
