(From left) Wong and Dr Wong Sing Sing speak to reporters.
SIBU: University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) will launch its Confucius Institute at the campus tomorrow (Dec 10).
According to the chairman of UCTS Board of Management, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, the Confucius Institute at UCTS is the fifth Confucius Institute in Malaysia and the second in East Malaysia.
The other four Confucius Institutes in Malaysia are in University of Malaya, Segi University, Universiti Sabah Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Pahang.
He said the Confucius Institute headquarters in China had appointed North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (NCWU) to establish the Confucius Institute in partnership with UCTS.
He said a ceremony to sign an agreement on the building of the Confucius Institute in UCTS between NCWU and UCTS was held in Zhengzhou, Henan, China on Nov 1, 2019.
He said the objective of setting up the institute is to strengthen the educational cooperation between China and Sarawak.
He also said that the institute would promote the development of Chinese language education and at the same time to increase mutual understanding among the people of China and Malaysia.
“There are some important joint venture efforts which include teaching Chinese language, providing Chinese language teaching resources, and carrying out research on Chinese language teaching.
“Besides that, it aims at providing Chinese language instructors and developing Chinese language teaching materials, organising Chinese proficiency test and test for certification of Chinese language teachers and so forth,” Wong told reporters yesterday.
He also said although he was fully involved in politics, he never forgot the importance of education for the younger generation.
Thus, he tried to find time to set up educational institutes such as Kolej Laila Taib, Sarawak Maritime Academy and UCTS, he said.
He said he had planned to set up six educational institutes including Confucius Institute.
He decided to forgo two institutes – automobile institute and nursing institute – as they had been set up by other companies, he added.
“My wish was to set up six educational institutions in various fields to help train younger generations, and the last one is Confucius Institute.
“Due to the effort by Associate Professor Dr Wong Sing Sing (Dean Confucius), and the effort put in by Chinese Consul General in Kuching and the authority in China, we now make this possible and available here for Sarawak,” he said.
He hoped that the institute would succeed in perpetuating not just teaching of Chinese language but also the close cooperation between Malaysia and China in all fields.
Dr Wong Sing Sing, who is in charge of international cooperation, said with the collaboration, the 2020 Chinese Bridge Online Group communication activities have been planned.
They are Online Chinese Courses, Online Art Courses and Online Tourism, and are open to anyone regardless of age throughout the world.
Those interested may contact Christy on 016-5776096.
“This is on a first come, first served basis. Once the registration is full, it will be closed automatically,” he said.
Meanwhile, Confucius Institute is a non-profit educational institute. By end of 2019, 550 Confucius Institutes and 1,172 Confucius classrooms had been established in 162 countries and regions around the world.
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