On December 7th, RUC VP DU Peng met with visiting University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Pedzisai Mashiri.
DU Peng warmly welcomed Pedzisai Mashiri. He recalled the many different cooperation projects that both universities have had in the past, and affirmed the building of the Confucius Institute at University of Zimbabwe, and the next steps in developing more student and teacher exchanges, also pointing out that there was room for growth, to engage in even deeper cooperation to research Africa issues and student teacher exchanges.
Vice Chancellor Mashiri said that University of Zimbabwe has always attached great importance to various international exchange and cooperation projects with the NPC and has repeatedly emphasized that mastering Chinese and Chinese culture will become a major advantage for Zimbabwean students in future competition in the employment market. He thanked Renmin University of China for its support for receiving Zimbabwean students studying for a doctoral degree, applying for scholarships, applying for an international primary school project, and expresses their willingness to further expand cooperation between the two universities in such fields as economics and law. University of Zimbabwe supports university students in Tianjin to study and exchange, is willing to provide funding, logistics and other project support, and looks forward to the exchange of scholars so that they can learn from each other through exchange, advantages and disadvantages of both disciplines, and emerging disciplines model and management system, with the aid of the Confucius Institute as a platform for the two schools to seek more cooperation.
RUC International VP Director LV Jie accompanied the visit.
University of Zimbabwe was established in 1953, and signed a cooperation agreement with RUC in 2006 to jointly establish Confucius Institute. The Confucius Institute won the title of "Advanced Confucius Institute of the World" for two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013. In 2009, Professor Mashiri, then the Dean of the Confucius Institute, was named "Advanced Individual of the Global Confucius Institute" by the headquarters of Confucius Institute at Hanban. In 2014, Renmin University of China and the University of Zimbabwe signed the "China-Africa Chair Program" to promote cooperation and exchanges between Renmin University of China and Zimbabwe University and other well-known African universities in the field of African studies.
