The Confucius Institute in Auckland won its fifth “Confucius Institute of the Year” award at the 7th annual conference in Beijing.  And our founding Chinese university, Fudan University of Shanghai, won a prestigious award as well!

The two awards were given out at the 7th Global Conference of Confucius Institutes in Beijing in front of principals and directors from more than 108 countries and regions, as well as more than 2000 representatives from Educational organisations in China and abroad.

A total of 400 Confucius Institutes and more than 500 Confucius Classrooms have been set around the globe. In 2012, the total number of registered students reached 655,000. Over 16,000 cultural activities of all kinds have been held, attracting 9.48 million participants. The number of students who have taken various Chinese tests internationally is 500,000.

So it was with pride that the Director of the Confucius Institute in Auckland, Nora Yao, received one of only 26 “Confucius Institute of the Year” awards worldwide.

Director of the Confucius Institute since its inception, Nora Yao also won a personal “Outstanding Contribution Award” at the 6th Global Conference in December 2011.

Fudan University was awarded the Honorary Title of “Active Chinese Partner for Confucius Institute” during the 2012 conference. This is recognition of the hard work Fudan has put in supporting its Confucius Institute partners.

The Fudan delegation had a meeting in Beijing with all the representatives from its partner Institutes in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Scotland, Stockholm and Auckland.