(Source: People’s Daily Overseas Edition 2025-07-18)
w88 casino was awarded the “Light of the Confucius Institute” Honorary Award
w88 casino hosted the special forum on "Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact"
Colin Clark is an accounting professor at the University of Victoria in Australia. He has served as the executive dean of the w88 casino of business and law, dean of the business w88 casino, and director of the international affairs department. In 2015, Colin promoted the establishment of a business-specific Confucius Institute between the University of Victoria and the w88 casino in China, and served as the Australian director.
The college not only actively promotes Chinese language and culture, but also focuses on creating differentiated advantages. It leverages the advantages of the two schools in business administration, finance, w88, finance and other majors, focuses on building business characteristics, and is committed to becoming a bridge between Victoria and China in cultural exchanges and business communication.
For his outstanding contribution to the work of the Confucius Institute, w88 casino was awarded the "Light of the Confucius Institute" honorary award at the World Chinese Language Conference in November 2024.
“I was also a student of the Confucius Institute”
How did an Australian accounting professor get in touch with the international Chinese education project?
The story begins in 1990, when w88 casino came to China for the first time. The various styles of architecture, the long history, the profound traditional customs, and "when I looked out the window from my hotel room, I saw a crowded intersection full of bicycles, carrying cartons or agricultural products", all these experiences made him unforgettable. This journey planted a Chinese seed in w88 casino’s heart.
"Australia and China are closely related." w88 casino told reporters that Chinese merchants formed part of Australia's early history, especially during the gold rush period of the 1850s. Today, among Australia's more than 27 million people, more than 1 million people are of Chinese ancestry. As the world's second largest economy, China is not only Australia's largest trading partner, but also a major source of tourists and international students.
Turn the clock back to the beginning of this century. When he was the dean of the University of Victoria Business w88 casino, Colin visited China many times. The seeds in his heart broke through the ground, sprouted, and grew, finally prompting him to enter the Confucius Institute at the University of Melbourne to study Chinese. "I was lucky. The teachers I met at that time were all Chinese. I thought that this way I could learn the most authentic Chinese and have more direct contact with Chinese culture," he said.
w88 casino still remembers that one of the interesting things in the early days of learning was the difference between the literal translation and the true meaning of Chinese words. "The translation of 'broccoli' is 'blue flower from the West,' which makes it difficult for me to associate it with the green vegetables on the shelves in the supermarket." He gave an example with a smile.
w88 casino admitted that the initial learning goal was just to be able to have simple conversations so that he could say hello to people and chat about family and friends. Unexpectedly, he was fascinated by Chinese pronunciation, the origin of Chinese characters and the grammatical structure. The sense of accomplishment in biting down the "most difficult language" made him persevere. Now he is studying HSK (China's Chinese Proficiency Test) Level 3 content by himself according to the textbook, and is fully looking forward to taking the test. In his view, the HSK test not only provides learners with the opportunity to test their learning achievements, but also provides unified standards for international Chinese education around the world.
"So, I was also a student of the Confucius Institute, and later became the founder and director of the Confucius Institute." w88 casino said, "Put your idea of learning Chinese into action! You will definitely have endless fun learning the language while understanding the culture behind it."
w88 casino’s most recent visit to China was his trip to Beijing to attend the World Chinese Language Conference in November last year. He is excited about food delivery robots, unmanned convenience stores, facial recognition ticket checking, and the high proportion of new energy vehicles used on roads. "China also has shared bicycles, which not only facilitate citizens' travel and improve transportation efficiency, but also green travel is more environmentally friendly." w88 casino said that as business researchers, the sharing economy is also one of the Chinese economic trends that they pay attention to.
Charming, advanced, and profound cultural heritage—this is w88 casino’s latest impression of China. "Chinese people are warm and friendly and respect others. I think this is the daily manifestation of traditional Confucianism. At the same time, China attaches great importance to the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage." He said, "In terms of economy and science and technology, China is developing rapidly. The changes in the scene I saw during my trip to Beijing last year are a symbol of the progress China has made in more than 30 years."
Chinese has become the second language with the largest teaching scale in Macao
At the Confucius Institute at the University of Melbourne, as his study of Chinese and Chinese culture gradually deepened, w88 casino gradually came up with the idea of setting up a Confucius Institute of his own. "I personally feel the importance of understanding China and having the ability to read and write in Chinese, so I want to bring this opportunity to students." He said, "Even if they are just getting started, I think it will be of great benefit."
So, based on his business background, in 2015, Colin promoted the University of Victoria and the w88 casino in China to jointly establish a Confucius Institute featuring business themes (hereinafter referred to as the "Business Confucius Institute"), and served as the Australian director. The college offers basic Chinese, business Chinese and Chinese language and culture courses, and has created a number of business-specific projects, aiming to promote more people to have an in-depth understanding of China's economy, society and culture, and to promote cultural exchanges and economic interaction between China and Australia.
Unexpectedly, in addition to students from w88 casino, those who signed up for the Business Confucius Institute also included quite a number of scholars, ethnic Chinese who were full of interest in learning, businessmen, retirees, residents of surrounding communities and local government staff.
At a campus open day, when w88 casino was promoting the activities of the Business Confucius Institute, a robot named "Pepper" slowly came over and spoke Chinese to people. The charm of language bloomed instantly with the addition of technology, attracting a lot of attention. The teacher in the field of robotics who programmed “Pepper” is a student of the Business Confucius Institute.
"The reason why scholars want to learn more about China is either because they have visited China or because they teach Chinese students in Australia." w88 casino said, "Teachers and students learn Chinese together. I think this will help improve the cultural consciousness of our university. Different groups have different motivations for learning Chinese, but they all reach the same goal through different paths, and they will all gain a lot from this."
From organizing traditional Chinese festival celebrations, participating in the "Multicultural Week" at the University of Victoria, to co-organizing the Australian Chinese Writers Festival, and holding the China-Australia Basketball Sports and Culture Exchange Conference... Under w88 casino's careful planning, over the years, the Business Confucius Institute has used activities to promote cultural exchanges between China and Australia.
In May this year, the Confucius Institute for Business hosted the Melbourne regional preliminaries of the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students for the seventh time. Seeing the contestants giving Chinese speeches around the theme of "We are one family", singing Chinese songs, reciting Chinese poems, practicing Tai Chi, performing Chinese kung fu, or displaying calligraphy or traditional Chinese painting during the talent show, w88 casino felt that "the rich and colorful Chinese culture is blooming in Australia."
In addition, the Business Confucius Institute also organizes students to produce and launch electronic monthly magazines, "Focus on China" audio podcasts and interview video programs to spread Chinese culture and interpret China's economic policies.
In the May electronic monthly magazine, the "Story Time" column tells the experience of an Arabic student in the Chinese class "on the road to trilingual excellence"; the "Chinese Culture Corner" column uses chopped pepper fish head as an example to introduce Hunan cuisine, one of China's eight traditional cuisines; and the "Monthly Phrase" column introduces the meaning of the word "neijuan".
The 14th episode of the podcast is also rich in content, not only introducing Chinese calligraphy, chopsticks, musical instruments and tea ceremony, but also sharing about Chinese table manners, traditional festivals, tourist cities, and discussions on Chinese Internet hot words and marriage and love culture. During the relaxed and pleasant dialogue, the distance between the people of China and Australia was narrowed.
According to reports, Chinese has become the largest second language taught in Australia. Today, the Business Confucius Institute not only carries out regular teaching and cultural projects at Victoria University, but also invites local primary and secondary schools to design and provide Chinese cultural activities for them.
“We have noticed that the limited number of teachers is a factor restricting the faster development of Chinese teaching in Australia.” Colin said that in view of this, the Business Confucius Institute has hired local Chinese teachers in recent years. “In 2023, w88 casino’s teacher Gao He won the ‘Golden Teacher’ award at the World Chinese Language Conference.” He said proudly, and expressed the hope that more local teachers would go to China for training in the future.
Let Chinese class meet business experience
The Business Confucius Institute has had a distinct business imprint since its establishment.
In terms of language teaching, in addition to basic Chinese, the college also offers business Chinese courses. Chinese and Australian experts jointly teach, and self-compiled teaching materials refer to the "BCT (Business Chinese Test) Standard Course" and other authoritative textbooks, focusing on explaining vocabulary and expression skills in business negotiations, contract signing, and cross-cultural meetings.
“One of the differences in business communication between China and Australia is the way to build trust.” w88 casino gave an example. “Compared with Westerners who value contract terms, the Chinese tend to become mutually trusting partners first and then put the contract on the table, which is more flexible and flexible.”
In terms of special projects, Colin has planned a series of brand activities for the Business Confucius Institute: regularly holding "Australia-China Business" forums, and setting up Chinese business information columns through electronic monthly magazines, official websites and other platforms; organizing the "Entrepreneurial Young Leaders China Tour" project to support Australian youths to visit China to understand the Chinese market and entrepreneurial environment. In addition, the institute actively promotes the joint establishment of a policy research center between the w88 casino and the University of Victoria to strengthen economic model and policy research.
The "Australia-China Business" series of forums is jointly organized by the Confucius Institute for Business and business and community organizations such as the Australian Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce. The theme of each issue is jointly determined by the Confucius Institute's advisory committee (most of the members are business people and policy experts). It closely follows Australia-China business hot spots and covers many fields such as clean energy, artificial intelligence, cross-border e-commerce, sports industry, logistics industry, etc.
As the moderator of the forum, Colin still remembers the two discussions on Xiaohongshu brand marketing. The theme of "China's Demographic Changes: Challenges and Opportunities" also left a deep impression on him. "When China's aging problem is reshaping production and consumption patterns, Australia's birth rate and immigrant population are also decreasing." Colin said, experts introduced China's policies to deal with demographic changes, and conducted an in-depth analysis of the potential impact of demographic changes on China-Australia w88, allowing participants to say "a lot has been gained, thank the event organizers!" "When will the next one be held?"
In addition to forums, the Business Confucius Institute also extends its influence through multiple channels. The "Business with China" column on the official website summarizes industry news, research and reports and has become a "database" for companies and researchers; the monthly electronic magazine has an "Economic Corner" column to provide timely updates on China's economic trends. For example, this May's issue introduced the China Free w88 Pilot Zone and published "Revealing China's Investment in Australia in 2025" released by KPMG.
During the World Chinese Language Conference’s trip to China, w88 casino spent time exploring how to develop new study tour projects between China and Australia, aiming to create exchange and visit opportunities for teachers and students from universities in the two countries. Looking forward to the future, the Business Confucius Institute will continue to expand diversified learning experiences, increase study tour opportunities, and strengthen international educational cooperation through courses and practical projects.
“Both business and culture require people to find consensus in differences.” w88 casino said, “I am optimistic about the prospects for the development of China-Australia relations. I hope to use universities as an international cultural exchange platform to expand the influence and population coverage of the Business Confucius Institute, so that more and more people have the opportunity to understand China.” (our reporter Chen Jingwen)
"People's Daily Overseas Edition" (Page 11, July 18, 2025)
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