The forum on “Volunteer Chinese Teachers”was held in Fuzhou from November 18 to 19 as a sub-forum of the international symposium on “the Maritime Silk Road—Connectivity and Benefit-Sharing between China and Southeast Asia”. More than 70 people attended the forum, among which were heads of the Chinese program/International Exchange Department under the Ministry of Education of the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia and heads of the Confucius Institute at University of Al Azhar Indonesia(UAI), the Angeles University Foundation Philippines(AUF), the University of Kentucky and Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban and the Foreign Cooperation Division of Fujian Provincial Education Department. Also present at the meeting were representativesfrom Beijing Normal University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Xiamen University, East China Normal University, Jinan University and other universities, outstanding volunteer team leaders and volunteer representatives. At the opening ceremony, Professor Zheng Jiajian, vice president of FNU, delivered a speech.
The forum, with the theme of “Exploring New Ideas for the Work of Volunteer Chinese Teachers tocontribute to the Comprehensive Development of the Belt and RoadInitiative”, not only reviewed the progress made in the past 15 years since the VCT Program was launched, but also discussed new opportunities and challenges, new requirements and objectivesthe Program faces under new situations.New measures were proposed to further innovate, strengthen and standardize theworkof VCT so as to enable thevolunteer teachers to play a more active role in “the Belt and Road” Initiative.
The forum is known to be the first to focus on the VCT work since the Program was initiated.
(Translated by Fu Dongxian, Reviewed by Liang Li’e )