The Confucius Institute at Makerere University
On 19th Dec., 2014, a grand inauguration ceremony for the Confucius Institute at Makerere University will be hosted by Makerere University. Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi is invited to the Ceremony and give remarks. Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yali, Makerere Chancellor George Mondo Kagonyera, Xiangtan University Board President Zhang Jing and Makerere Vice-Chancellor John Ddumba Ssentamu are also addressing.
The Confucius Institute at Makerere University is approved by Confucius Institute Headquarters of China in partnership with Makerere University of Uganda and Xiangtan University of China. It is the first Confucius Institute in Uganda, the 38th in Africa and the 443rd in worldwide.
The Confucius Institute at Makerere University is the most remarkable achievement of the cooperation between Makerere University and Xiangtan University under the framework of “China-Uganda Africa Universities 20+20 Cooperation Project”, initialized in 2010 and sponsored by the Ministry of Education, China.
With the founding of the Confucius Institute at Makerere University, the university opens the first degree course of Chinese in Uganda. Now the Confucius Institute has enrolled more than 100 students both in Kampala and Port Fort including 40 degree students from Makerere University,lectured by 5 teachers sent from Xiangtan University and other institutions from China.
Located on the campus of Makerere, the Confucius Institute targets to offer Chinese language degree courses to Makerere University students and non-degree courses to Makerere University students the public. It is also ready to send teachers to the middle schools and other universities along the country to teach Chinese language and culture. The Makerere students joining the degree program are expected to study at Makerere Unversity for 3 years and go to China to complete their studies.
The Confucius Institute will serve as the window for promoting mutual understandings of the two countries and two peoples of Uganda and China, and the comprehensive and profound cooperation and exchange between the two countries.
China is the leading trade partner of Africa. The exchange and cooperation especially in trade has brought China and Uganda closer than ever. There has been a huge demand to learn Chinese in Uganda. Both Chinese and Uganda companies in Uganda are looking for qualified local employees. Uganda citizens who know both Chinese and English and the culture of both countries will be provided more and better job opportunities either in China and Uganda.