The Delegation from Hanban Visited the University of Banja Luka

Delegation of the University of Banja Luka led by the Rector Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, met on 10 May 2019 with the delegation of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban).

At the meeting held in the Rectorate, the Rector of the University of Banja Luka Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, presented the University and the activities successfully carried out in the past period by the Confucius Institute of the University of Banja Luka.

The Rector talked about future plans and said, among other things, that the University of Banja Luka will initiate the establishment of Chinese Studies, where not only languages would be studied but also trends in China from politics and economics to various initiatives launched by this country such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the 17 + 1 cooperation mechanism in the countries of Central and East Europe.

This proposal would be an innovation, as there is nothing similar in the region and would be organized in cooperation with other Chinese and European universities.

The delegation led by Zhao Guocheng, Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Deputy Director-General of Hanban, supported the idea of establishing the Chinese Studies as well as this project. 

Guocheng praised the work of the Confucius Institute and thanked the Rector and the University for all the help and support provided to the Confucius Institution. He also stressed that the Confucius Institute of the University of Banja Luka is networking between China and the Republic of Srpska, and expressed hope that this Institute will one day become the regional centre for teaching Chinese language and other China and Asia related disciplines.

Both parties thanked the authorities of the Republic of Srpska and China for their support to the Confucius Institute, which made excellent results in the past period.

As pointed out by Guocheng, the visit to the Confucius Institute and the University also constitutes the preparation for the annual CI conference held at the end of the year. During the day, the delegation from Beijing also visited the premises of the Confucius Institute, where they could see the quality of work of the Institute.

Apart from the Rector, the meeting was on behalf of the University also attended by the Vice Rector for Human and Material Resources Prof. Luka Kecman, PhD, Vice Rector for Scientific Research and University Development Prof. Goran Latinovic, PhD, Vice Rector for International and Interuniversity Cooperation Prof. Biljana Antunovic, PhD, and Secretary General Djordje Markez, MA. Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences Prof. Zdravko Zlokapa, PhD, Vice Dean for Scientific Research of the Faculty Assistant Professor Aleksandar Vranjes, PhD, and the Confucius Institute Home Director and Chinese Director Ljiljana Stevic and Ying Cai were also present at the meeting.

The delegation from Beijing consisted of Wang Feng, Deputy Director of Hanban for European Confucius Institutes, Hui Hui and An Shi, coordinators for European countries and Hu Ziyuan, in charge of testing and scholarship.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Banja Luka, premises of which are located at the Faculty of Political Sciences, was official opened in January 2018. The Institute is actively working on offering Chinese language and culture courses for all ages. In addition to language teaching, the Institute also offers different China related courses and educations and organizes lectures and workshops on Chinese culture, tradition, economy, trends in China, etc.