This is a past event
Together with our partner university, Wuhan, we are pleased to announce a structured programme to support those members of the University who wish to pursue Mandarin as part of their continuous professional development.
The objective of this programme is to bring highly motivated staff to the point where they can pass the HSK4 exam. This is an advanced Mandarin language qualification which, according to the ministry for external education (Hanban), is equivalent to level B2 in the Common European Framework. It requires a knowledge of 1200 characters and is the first in the HSK exam series that does not use any romanisation (pinyin). *Foreign researchers who have passed the HSK 4 exam can be co-PIs on grant applications to Chinese funding authorities: a significant advantage for a researcher seeking to build a research and funding profile in China.*
The programme consists of two years of continuous study in the Confucius Institute with our teachers from Wuhan University. We will organise classes based on demand, but for those looking to progress quickly we suggest two two-hour classes each week.
This is supplemented by immersion training in Wuhan itself in the summers. This can be arranged in two ways. Firstly, the Aberdeen staff member can make their own arrangements for travel and join an existing immersion programme at Wuhan University, with the understanding that Wuhan University's international office will make a strong effort to arrange housing and classes that are the best possible match for the Aberdeen staff member at a low cost. Wuhan University's immersion courses are very inexpensive by Scottish standards. In this way Aberdeen staff can stay as long as they want and can focus completely on language acquisition.
A second possibility is that Wuhan University is keen to invite senior scholars from Aberdeen University as lecturers. Should any individual be interested, we can put them forward as a visiting lecturer prepared to give 36 contact hours of lectures across the summer, and that can be combined with, or followed by, intensive study of Mandarin. Wuhan University will pay all housing, tuition and lodging for visiting scholars under this programme. This option is only open to academic staff at Senior Lecturer or higher. In our opinion this is only really practical for staff prepared to spend 2 months in Wuhan as otherwise the workload is too great, but it will definitely be a great immersion experience and it will give the Aberdeen academic tremendous opportunities to discover good research partnerships.
Staff should be non-native speakers of Chinese, and have the support of their Head of School/Line Manager.
To register an interest, please contact staff at The Confucius Institute
- Contact
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Confucius@abdn.ac.uk
Tel. 01224 273209