University to open 'Confucius Institute'

The University of Auckland will today unveil plans to open a "Confucius Institute" - with the aim of promoting Chinese as the second, international language of choice in New Zealand schools.

The institute comes hard on the heels of the New Zealand/China free trade agreement and will be a national centre to promote Chinese language and culture.

Vice-chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon said the centre would work with schools and other universities to increase the Chinese literacy of all New Zealanders.

The institute is a partnership between Auckland University and the Chinese Government.

New Zealand is only the third country to be invited to establish a Confucius Institute after those opened at Stockholm University and the University of Maryland.

Chinese Vice-Minister of Education Zhang Xinsheng, who has responsibility for the country's international education strategy, will be in Auckland to witness the signing of a letter of intent between the university and the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.

The institute will be jointly staffed by senior University of Auckland and Chinese academics.

Its aims to recruit and train teachers who can teach Chinese, provide development for language educators and build links with government and universities in the wider Chinese language-speaking world.

It also aims to promote the learning of Chinese culture and language as an effective tool in business.

Professor McCutcheon said the university has New Zealand's largest grouping of scholars teaching and researching on China.

A team from the University of Auckland's arts faculty travelled to Peking University in Beijing last year to lay the groundwork for what is thought to be Asia's first New Zealand studies centre.

In addition, the first education counsellor appointed by New Zealand in China was installed to help both countries to better understand each other's education systems.

About 100,000 international students study here but the number has dropped in the past two years, the biggest downturn being in the number of Chinese students.