2023 annual board meeting of the Confucius Institute at the University of Southampton

On December 12th, the 2023 annual board meeting of the Confucius Institute at the University of Southampton was held at Xiamen University. The British attendees at this board meeting included Professor Andrew Atherton, Chair of the Board and Vice-President for International and Engagement of the University of Southampton; Professor Bryony Whitmarsh, Vice Dean for International Affairs at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Southampton; Dr. Ying Zheng, the British Director of the Confucius Institute at Southampton; and Ms. Xiaoyue Jiang, International Affairs Officer of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Southampton.

The Chinese attendees included Professor Dalin Shi, Vice-President of the Board and Xiamen University; Ms. Fan Li, Chair of the Chinese International Education College/Overseas Education College at Xiamen University; Professor Ruoling Zheng, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Southampton; and Dr. Jiangzhi Zhang, the Chinese director-designate. Representatives from the Language Center and International Office of Xiamen University also attended the meeting.

This meeting marked the first in-person board meeting of the Confucius Institute at Southampton since the outbreak of the pandemic. The face-to-face exchange and visits between the two sides during this meeting not only provided guidance for the work of the Confucius Institute in the coming year but also facilitated cooperation and exchanges between the two universities.