The 2020 African Forum of Confucius Institutes was held online via the Zoom platform on 16th December 2020. The forum was organized by the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF) and hosted by Zhejiang Normal University (ZNU). The theme of the forum was “Collaboration and Innovation for an Extraordinary Future of Confucius Institutes”. Prof. Zheng Mengzhuang, President of ZNU and Mr Zhao Lingshan, Vice-President and Secretary-General of CIEF delivered the opening remarks. They highlighted the need to enhance communication and cooperation among CIs and discuss how to further the sustainable and high quality development of CIs in the future, especially in post-covid era.
Seven delegates from different CIs in Africa delivered keynote speeches that dealt with subjects ranging from ‘Enhancing the regional synergy among CIs’; ‘How to boost the sustainable and high quality development of CIs’; to ‘Carrying out quality-based assessment of CIs’. One of the keynote speakers talked about the adoption of translation technologies for the promotion of exchanges and collaboration in both academic and professional fields. There was also mention of the strengthening of relationships with community through cultural exchanges and participation in joint community/company projects and events for transformative impact on society; the use of 3-D technology/virtual/augmented reality technologies for enhanced regional synergy.
Other speakers mentioned that Confucius Institutes have a role to play in bringing peoples together through the promotion of language and culture and people-to-people exchanges.