page_title: Confucius Institute
hierarchical_section_title: Confucius Institute
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Entrée de l'Institut Confucius de Bretagne
context_page_description: Confucius Institutes are public educational partnerships between colleges and universities in China and colleges and universities in other countries; the partnerships are funded and arranged in part by Hanban which is itself affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. The organization has been criticized due to concerns of rising Chinese influences in the countries in which it operates, however many programs have renegotiated their contracts to protect the academic freedom of host universities.
  The Confucius Institute program began in 2004 and is supported by Hanban, overseen by individual universities. The institutes operate in co-operation with local affiliate colleges and universities around the world, and financing is shared between Hanban and the host institutions. The related Confucius Classroom program partners with local secondary schools or school districts to provide teachers and instructional materials.
context_section_description: Confucius Institutes (Chinese: 孔子学院; pinyin: Kǒngzǐ Xuéyuàn) are public educational partnerships between colleges and universities in China and colleges and universities in other countries; the partnerships are funded and arranged in part by Hanban which is itself affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. The organization has been criticized due to concerns of rising Chinese influences in the countries in which it operates, however many programs have renegotiated their contracts to protect the academic freedom of host universities.
  The Confucius Institute program began in 2004 and is supported by Hanban (officially the Office of Chinese Language Council International), overseen by individual universities. The institutes operate in co-operation with local affiliate colleges and universities around the world, and financing is shared between Hanban and the host institutions. The related Confucius Classroom program partners with local secondary schools or school districts to provide teachers and instructional materials.
  Officials from China have compared Confucius Institutes to language and culture promotion organizations such as Portugal's Instituto Camões, Britain's British Council, France's Alliance Française, Italy's Società Dante Alighieri, Spain's Instituto Cervantes and Germany's Goethe-Institut—several of them named for an iconic cultural figure identified with that country, as Confucius is identified with China. Some commentators argue that, unlike these organizations, many Confucius Institutes operate directly on university campuses, thus giving rise to what they allege to be unique concerns related to academic freedom and political influence, however outside of isolated incidents, any accusation of widespread interference of academic freedom has yet to be substantiated. On 13 August 2020, the United States Department of State designated the headquarters of the Confucius Institute in the U.S. as a "foreign mission" of China.
caption: Confucius Institute of Brittany in Rennes, France
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