Caribbean 360 is reporting that the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill and the Chinese government are partnering on the establishment of a Confucius Institute. Confucius Institutes are non-profit public teaching organizations that promote Chinese language and
culture, and facilitate cultural exchanges.
The author writes:
“According to the Barbados Government Information Service, the establishment of the institute, ‘follows a series of discussions, between China, Barbados and the UWI since 2009, and as recent as March 2014, when Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, met with representatives of China University of Political Science and Law, partners in the establishment of the institute here on the island’”.
China has established over 400 Confucius Institutes Worldwide. While Confucius Institutes are welcomed and celebrated by many institutions, others worry about the influence of the Chinese government on the structure of the program and the speed at which the institutes are spreading.
There are Confucius Institutes at UWI Mona in Jamaica (opened in 2010) and UWI St. Augustine (opened in 2013).
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