The 7th Global Confucius Institute Conference in 2012 was held at the National Convention Center, Beijing from December 16th to the 18th. Liu Yandong, Chinese State Councilor and Chairwoman of the Council of the Confucius Institute’s Headquarters attended the conference and commended the distinguished individuals and organizations involved with global Confucius Institute in her address. The opening ceremony of the Conference began on the evening of December 16th. Yuan Guiren, Minister of Education, presided over the ceremony and more than 2000 delegates from 400 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius classrooms worldwide gathered together. Chen Yulu, president of Renmin University of China (RUC) was in attendance. Liu Yandong presented Chen Yulu with the award for Confucius Institute University Performance Excellence on behalf of RUC. The award was conferred for the first time this year, demonstrating Hanban’s (Confucius Institute Headquarters) bold initiative for the 2012-2020 development plans to further improve the Confucius Institute. 10 universities, including RUC, Beijing Foreign Studies University and Nankai University were awarded with the Confucius Institute University Performance Excellence medal, selected from the evaluation of 300 Chinese partner organizations. The conference also awarded 30 Excellent Confucius Institutes and Classrooms among 400 global Confucius Institutes. Three Confucius Institutes that share contracts with RUC, at University of Bologna in Italy, at University of Leipzig in Germany and at the University of Zimbabwe won the honor. Lester P. Monts, Deputy Dean at the Confucius Institute of University of Michigan (also contracted to RUC), was honored with the Confucius Institute Partner Performance Excellence medal. The Presidents Forum of the Conference was held on December 18th. Yang Huilin, vice-president of RUC attended the forum and delivered a keynote speech on the development of Confucius Institutes with Chinese universities. Since 2006, RUC has been commissioned to build 13 Confucius Institutes, including 6 in Europe, 5 in the Americas, and 1 in Asia. 128 people, namely 46 teachers and 82 student volunteers have been commissioned to work in overseas institutes. The number of Confucius Institutes contracted to RUC ranks fourth among national universities, and second among colleges and universities among 984 Programs. Great success has been achieved. RUC conferred the Confucius Institute University Performance Excellence medals in 2012; Confucius Institute at the University of Dublin, Ireland as Confucius Institute Excellent University in 2009, 2008 and 2010; Confucius Institute of the University of Leipzig, Germany won the award in 2009 and 2012. Thomas Roetting, executive dean of Confucius Institute of the University of Leipzig, and Lai Zhijin its Chinese dean were honored as Excellent Partners in 2008 and 2011 respectively. Confucius Institutes at University of Bologna, Italy and University of Zimbabwe were all awarded Excellent Confucius Institutes for 2012.