Meeting of the Confucius Institute Council Board Members Held

Meeting of the University of Banja Luka Confucius Institute Council Board members was held on 16 June 2021 via the Zoom platform.

Rector of the University of Banja Luka and Chairman of the Council Board Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, pointed out that one of the most important goals of mutual cooperation will be achieved next academic year, and that is the opening of the Department of Sinology at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka. He also stressed the importance of a joint project at Tianjin Faculty of Foreign Studies, where Chinese students will have the opportunity to learn Serbian. During this meeting, Gajanin also talked highly about the work of the Confucius Institute at University of Banja Luka.

Vice Rector for International and Interuniversity Cooperation at the University of Banja Luka and member of the Council Board Prof. Biljana Antunović, PhD, stressed the importance of the work of the Confucius Institute at University of Banja Luka as a platform for international cooperation and academic exchange of the Republic of Srpska and the People's Republic of China.

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Prof. Ranko Škrbić, PhD, who is also a member of the Council Board, expressed his gratitude to the partners in China for their help in overcoming the situation caused by the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus. He also emphasized that there is a lot of scope for mutual cooperation between the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Banja Luka and the Faculty of Medicine in Tianjin. He also thanked for the donated equipment used at the Institute for Biomedical Research.

The directors of the Confucius Institute at University of Banja Luka, Shen Li and Ljiljana Stević, PhD, talked about the past activities of the Confucius Institute and plans for future projects and activities that include the opening of the Confucius Classroom in Doboj. They also talked about cooperation with Chinese companies in the Republic of Srpska, in which Chinese language course students do their internships. This was an opportunity for the directors of the Confucius Institute to talk about the plans for the opening and development of the Department of Sinology at the Faculty of Philology, University of Banja Luka.

Chairman of the Council Board of Tianjin University of Technology and Education Zhang Jingang stressed the importance of holding meetings of representatives of the two universities and stressed the importance of all projects implemented since the opening of the Confucius Institute. He talked, among other things, about projects such as mutual visits of officials, academic exchange, and the possibility of introducing the Serbian language in teaching at the Faculty of Foreign Studies of Tianjin University of Technology and Education. Jingang also talked about the organization of the summer camp for the Chinese language course students at the Confucius Institute at University of Banja Luka. As he explained, the summer camp would be organized by the Confucius Institute and Tianjin University of Technology and Education.

The partners from China expressed satisfaction with the work of the Confucius Institute, which connects the cities of Banja Luka and Tianjin, and the Republic of Srpska and the People's Republic of China, and announced that they will provide full support in the work of the Confucius Institute at University of Banja Luka.

In addition to the Chairman of the Council Board of Tianjin University of Technology and Education Zhang Jingang, the meeting was also attended by Vice Rector for International Cooperation of Tianjin University of Technology and Education Li Jingquan, Director of the International Exchange Office Zhai Fengjie and Deputy Director of the International Exchange Office Zhang Lei.