On May 6th, the Ninth Board Meeting of ZJSU Confucius Institute in Belgium was held. Carl Decaluwe, Governor of West Flanders of Belgium, Lode De Geyter, President of Howest University of Applied Sciences (Howest) , Frederic Hurst, Vice President of Howest, Su Weihua, Vice President of ZJSU, Tao Ying. Director of International Office and other Board Members attended the meeting.  

    On behalf of ZJSU, Prof. Su Weihua began by extending congratulations on the convening of the Board Meeting and expressing gratitude on the efforts paid by all members and faculties. He delivered a speech on innovative development of CI during the pandemic. In the speech, Prof. Su noted that under the guidance of the two governments and with joint efforts from board members, Howest and ZJSU stuck together to guarantee the normal and orderly operation of CI with remarkable achievements on international education. With the Internet bridging the two sides, it was hoped to expand CI functions in language education, people-to-people exchanges and social services, in a bid to enrich the content of cooperation, make CI the global model and contribute more to international Chinese teaching, Sino-China cultural exchanges and nation-to-nation friendly exchanges.

    At the meeting, Belgian Director Philip and Chinese Director Chen Peiliang delivered 2021 annual work report and 2022 annual work plan of CI. Together they reviewed CI big events in 2021, including Chinese teaching, cultural activities and projects, CI budget, etc., and reported on the work to be carried out in 2022.

    In the end, President Lode gave a closing speech with a review on the history of  CI. He spoke highly of achievements since the establishment of CI and extended his gratitude on the supports given by all sides. He stressed that CI was undergoing a period of development and revolution, hoping the two sides work together to promote sustainable development of CI and make CI the global model.

    The annual board meeting aims to timely summarize the work, discuss the development plan, strengthen the exchanges and communication between the two sides for the better development of CI. In 2021, with joint efforts, CI has achieved all three established objectives, namely “one major”: building the first major of “China Business Research” in Belgium; “one class”: offering the first Chinese class for overseas Chinese children; “one center”: advancing orderly the construction of Belgium Chinese Education and Research Center with Center for Language Education and Cooperation of Ministry of Education.