On the afternoon of November 19, a meeting of the Confucius Institute at Metropolis Ruhr (CIMR), jointly established by Wuhan University and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, was held online. Yuan Yufeng, vice president of Wuhan University, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Yuan Yufeng congratulated the CIMR on the 15th anniversary of its establishment and reviewed key exchange projects undertaken in 2024, expressing his affirmation of the significant contributions the CIMR had made to Sino-German cultural exchanges since its inception. He further expressed his hopes that the CIMR would continue to serve as a bridge for staff and academic exchanges, promoting in-depth communication and cooperation between China and Germany in areas such as green economy, global health, and climate change.

In her speech, Karen Shire vice president of the University of Duisburg-Essen, expressed her gratitude to WHU for its long-term support for the CIMR. She commended the exchange activities conducted by the CIMR this year and looked forward to more activities in 2025. The vice president also pointed out that the 15th anniversary of the CIMR was a ‘milestone’ and hoped that the two universities would continue to strengthen interactions through the CIMR in the future.

During the meeting, the director of the CIMR gave a report on the 2023 annual work, the work to date in 2024, and the financial situation of the CIMR. The two sides also discussed the strategic objectives and planned projects for 2025, conducted in-depth discussions and reached agreement on topics such as continuing to hold the ‘5+5 High-Level Dialogue on Sino-German Cooperation in the Context of Carbon Neutrality’, the ‘Chinese Bridge’ Chinese language summer camp and youth exchanges.

Relevant staff from WHU’s Office of International Affairs and School of Foreign Languages and Literature attended the meeting.

It is reported that the CIMR is the crystallization of the cooperation between Wuhan University and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The two universities reached an agreement to jointly establish the institute in 2007, and on November 6, 2009, the CIMR was officially inaugurated.

Rewritten by Mai Ziyan