China-Ghana Educational Cooperation and Exchange
In the educational field of Ghana, there is a non-profit educational institutions from China- the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana .Over the years, it has worked tirelessly and sent a large number of professors, teachers, and volunteer teachers from various universities of China to Ghana for educational cooperation with many universities in Ghana. Through this cooperation, about 40,000 Ghanaians in businesses, government agencies, universities, middle schools and elementary schools have gotten this platform to study Chinese language.
In 2014, the University of Ghana, with Zhejiang University of Technology in China as the partner, established the first Confucius Institute in Ghana. In the six years of its operation, it has trained 40,000 Ghanaian students, thus becoming the global model Confucius Institute. At present, the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana in cooperation with universities, middle schools and elementary schools has established 8 teaching sites, 4 special Chinese language classes with 3,543 registered students. The scope of education has radiated from the capital of Accra to its surrounding areas. The Confucius institutes in Ghana over the years have attained the following:
1.The Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana takes root in the famous University of Ghana. It has established a multifaceted cooperation with the university to train students to acquire special skills in Chinese language in Ghana.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana has cooperated with the Chinese Department of the University of Ghana for 6 years since its inception. The major courses at various levels of the Chinese Department at University of Ghana, throughout the year, are taught by two full-time Chinese teachers from China. The number of Chinese language students increased from the initial dozens of people to nearly a thousand. Every year, the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana selects a group of Chinese language students with excellent academic performance to go to universities in China to learn more about Chinese language and culture. Every year, Chinese language competitions such as the “Chinese Bridge Competition” are conducted to encourage Chinese language learners, thereby providing the platform for Chinese companies to meet Chinese language students, thus increasing employment opportunities for students.
2. Set up a Chinese Proficiency Test center, thus making it more convenient for local Chinese language students.
The Chinese Proficiency Test Center at the Confucius Institute of the University of Ghana has successfully held more than 60 HSK and HSKK exams in the past 6 years. More than 1,000 candidates have signed up for this examination and the number of applicants keeps increasing year after year. As such more than 60% of students who partook in this examination passed with distinction and received Chinese language proficiency certificates, which they then use in applying for Ghana government scholarships and Chinese government scholarships with more than 200 students to study in China. Because of the Confucius Institute, currently, three Chinese universities provide scholarships. Nearly 70 students have successfully applied for this-year scholarship. In future, cooperative universities and scholarship quotas will further increase.
3. Cooperate with enterprises to increase employment opportunities for young people in Ghana.
Cooperated with Kotoka International Airport to have trained more than 300 officials at the Airport Immigration Bureau and Customs; Cooperated with Shenzhen Energy Security (Ghana) Power Company, Transit Company Ghana Office, Huawei Ghana Branch, and sent professional teachers to train local employees of Chinese companies and provide them with free Chinese language learning materials,in order to improve their working skills with language advantage. During the anti-epidemic activities held in support of China, His Excellency Vice President of the republic of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia praised the wonderful performances of the students of the Shenzhen Energy Chinese Class.
4. Cooperated with universities and educational institutions to organize educational official delegations to China every summer for further cooperation and exchange opportunities.
Assistant Commissioner and Commander, Madam Edith Penelope of Ghana immigration: Vice-Chancellor of university of Ghana, Prof. Ebenezer Owusu, Pro-Vice-Chancellor，Prof. Francis Dodoo and other important officials have been invited to visit China. University of Ghana has established resource sharing and assistance programs with Chinese universities.
5. Cooperate with many primary and secondary schools in Ghana to organize the "Partner Program" summer camp program. Every summer, middle school students from the Ghana University Affiliated School, (university basic school), Christ Union and other teaching sites are organized to go to China for a three-week to experience Chinese culture. The “Ghana Student China Summer Camp Activity” in 2019 adopts a pairing method with a Shanghai middle school where Ghanaian middle school students and Chinese middle school students are required to attend the same class, compete in the same field, eat at the same table, perform at the same stage, and learn from each other. To enhance friendship, the students shared their experiences in their respective schools after returning home, and wrote many touching stories.
6. Cooperate with StarTimes to establish a "digital Chinese" micro-class to provide mobile classroom learning for Chinese language lovers who have no time to enter the classroom.
In less than a week after just four classes of the first session of the online class were launched, the number of likes was almost ten thousand, thus providing a more flexible way to study Chinese language in Ghana.
China and Ghana share a deep friendship. On this 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Ghana, the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana would like to express our sincere wishes in this paper. We will continue to promote traditional culture and make new efforts for the development of Chinese and Ghanaian culture and education.
