In the afternoon of August 8, a ceremony to celebrate the completion of 2015 In-service Training Workshop for Confucius Institute Directors was held in Xiamen University. 26 directors from 18 countries and leaders from the headquarters of Confucius Institute and the Southern Base for International Promotion of Mandarin of Xiamen University attended the ceremony. Zhu Chongshi, president of XMU and Yu Xinren, director of Confucius Institute in The University of Toledo, US and Zhan Sen, director of Confucius Institute in University of Wales, Trinity St David gave speeches at the ceremony.

    In his speech, President Zhu expressed, on behalf of the Confucius Institute Headquarters(Hanban) and Xiamen University, his congratulations on the completion of workshop, and thanks to Hanban for its trust, directors for their participation, teachers for their support and the volunteers for their hard work. President Zhu was sure that with the development of the construction of the Institute of Directors, Xiamen University would play a more and more important role in promoting the internationalization of mandarin and Chinese culture. He said that the end of the workshop meant that all the directors have become the alumni of Xiamen University. He hoped that they can often come back to their “mother” university, and introduce the university to more people, promoting the cooperation between their university and Xiamen University.

    In their speeches, Yu Xinren and Zhan Sen expressed, on behalf of their respective institutes, their thanks to Hanban and Xiamen University for their offering such a workshop. They were impressed with the lectures and activities that the workshop offered and hoped that all the directors can gather again at the beautiful campus of Xiamen University, sharing each other’s wonderful experience in running Confucius Institutes.