Confucius Institute at the University of Rome La Sapienza(Italy)

In July 2007, the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) signed the cooperative agreement on the establishment of the Confucius Institute with the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. It was the first Confucius Institute created in Italy. In October 2007, the Confucius Institute was formally established, started enrolling new students, and carried out cultural activities. The Beijing Foreign Language University is the Chinese executive agency of the Confucius Institute. The University of Rome La Sapienza is not only the largest national university in Italy, but also one of the largest universities in the world with 21 colleges, over 5,000 teachers and 3,500 staffs, plus 140,000 students. The East School is one of the 21 colleges at the University of Rome La Sapienza, teaching a dozen languages and cultures on the Near East, the Middle East, and the Far East, including Hebrew, Farsi, Fanyu (Hsi Hsia language), Urdu, Indian languages, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. The East School has over 2,000 students. Among them the number of Chinese learners is the largest, and the number of the examinees taking the final examination on Chinese subjects reaches over 600. Along with modern Chinese, the school also offers other subjects in Chinese teaching, including ancient Chinese, classical Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese literature, ancient Chinese history, contemporary Chinese history, Chinese art history, classical Chinese music history, and Chinese law. Facing all circles from the community, the Confucius Institute at the University of Rome La Sapienza will provide different courses in different methods at different terms for those who want to learn Chinese language and understand Chinese culture.