Chinese Ambassador opens Chinese Proficiency Competition regional final at IOE

Together with UCL’s Provost and President Dr Michael Spence, the Ambassador also unveiled a plaque for the Chinese Bridge Club in the Logan Hall at UCL on Monday 27 June.

Before the event, Ambassador Zheng met with the Provost Dr Spence, IOE Director and Dean Professor Li Wei, and Pro-Vice-Provost for East Asia and Director of the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) Katharine Carruthers. Both the Ambassador and the Provost emphasised the importance of language and cultural learning, through programmes such as the MEP led by IOE, in people-to-people exchange especially amongst young people. 

MEP is a unique yet intensive language programme, funded by the Department of Education and started in 2016. It is delivered by IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, in partnership with the British Council. There are now around 8,000 students enrolled on the programme and on track to fluency in the language. The programme will continue until 2024.

The Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition is an annual worldwide Chinese speaking and performance competition. There are separate competitions for primary school, secondary school and university students. Since its launch in 2002, the competition has attracted more than 1.5 million students from over 160 countries.

Related links

• Mandarin Excellence Programme
• Dr Michael Spence's profile
• Professor Li Wei's profile
• Katharine Carruthers’ profile
• IOE Confucius Institute for Schools

Image

Left to right: HE Mr Zheng Zeguang, Dr Michael Spence, Professor Li Wei, Katherine Carruthers. Photo by Jason Ilagan, UCL.