STORY: Confucius Institute in Portugal awarded "Model Confucius Institute" 
DATELINE: June 15, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:46
LOCATION: TIANJIN, China
CATEGORY: EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the awarding ceremony
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): WANG JINCHENG, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute, University of Lisbon
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JOAO BARREIROS, Portuguese Director of the Confucius Institute, University of Lisbon
4. various of students learning

STORYLINE:

The Confucius Institute run by the University of Lisbon (ULisboa) in collaboration with its Chinese university partner was awarded "Model Confucius Institute" status in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday.

The Confucius Institute, established by Tianjin Foreign Studies University and ULisboa in 2008, is the first in Portugal to be awarded this title.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): WANG JINCHENG, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute, University of Lisbon
"With the 'Model Confucius Institute' award, we hope to motivate more Confucius Institutes in Portuguese-speaking countries. We will take more measures in personnel training, resource development and teacher education, to serve as a role model."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JOAO BARREIROS, Portuguese Director of the Confucius Institute, University of Lisbon
"The Confucius Institute is now starting a new project. The first mission is to improve the quality of the teaching methods and the materials, create more and more Chinese language Portuguese teachers, we want to increase the number of local teachers. This is absolutely necessary. The number of students who want to learn Chinese is increasing very fast."

So far, the institute has had over 18,000 registered students. Over 100 students have got scholarships to study in China. More than 90,000 people have participated in various cultural activities held by the institute.

The Confucius Institute is a non-profit institution co-hosted by Chinese and foreign partners. It aims to teach Chinese, share Chinese culture, and foster China-world exchanges.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tianjin, China.
(XHTV)