About Us

Confucius Institute: An Overview

Confucius Institutes, as non-profit education organizations, devote themselves to satisfying the demands of people from different countries and regions in the world who learn the Chinese language, to enhancing understanding of the Chinese language and culture by these peoples, to strengthening educational and cultural exchange and cooperation between China and other countries, to deepening friendly relationships with other nations, to promoting the development of multi-culturalism, and to fostering harmony in the world.

The Confucius Institute was formerly affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education and overseen by Office of Chinese Language Council International or Hanban until its trademark was transferred to Chinese International Education Foundation, a non-profit charitable social organization jointly initiated by 27 universities, enterprises, and social organizations in 2020. The Confucius Institute is a product of cooperation between a Chinese university and a local university, which will share the management and funding of its operations. On the other hand, the Confucius Classroom, a small-scale version of CI which is being established in local secondary schools, aims to strengthen the Chinese language and culture promotion of the school and the local area by providing local teachers and students with learning resources and relevant training. The Confucius Institute is similar to language and culture promotion organizations such as Spain's Instituto Cervantes, Germany's Goethe-Institut, France's Alliance Française, Japan Foundation, and Korean Cultural Center.

As of 2020, 541 Confucius Institutes and 1170 Confucius Classrooms have been established in 162 countries and regions, with a total of enrolment of over 360,000 registered students from pre-school to tertiary levels, including technical and vocational courses. The Confucius Institute becomes an important platform for language and cultural exchanges between the people of China and the rest of the world.

The Confucius Institute at Angeles University Foundation

The Confucius Institute Headquarters (presently Center for Language Education & Cooperation) approved the establishment of the Confucius Institute at Angeles University Foundation (CI-AUF) in 2009 through the partnership between Fujian Normal University (China) and Angeles University Foundation (Philippines). It was inaugurated on January 15, 2010 by then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since its establishment, CI-AUF has been active in strengthening and deepening the long-cultivated friendly relation between the Philippines and China through the promotion of Chinese language and culture in the mainstream society. The CI-AUF has been instrumental in the inclusion of the Chinese Mandarin in the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum of the Philippines in 2011 through its partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd). Currently, CI-AUF has 3 Confucius Classrooms and 150 teaching sites across 11 regions of the country. The wide reach and huge impact of its programs resulted to CI-AUF being dubbed as the “Walking Confucius Institute.” It is also the current holder of the world titles “The Confucius Institute with Most Number of Trained Local Teachers” and “The Confucius Institute with Most Number of Teaching Sites.”

The CI-AUF was also designated by DepEd as the “Training Center for the Local Mandarin Teachers in the Philippines” in 2013. The CI-AUF spearheaded the localization of Chinese language education in the country through cultivating local teachers for Chinese language teaching and contextualization of instructional materials. In the past decade, there were 360 local teachers trained and more than 500 Chinese teachers have been deployed in the Philippines to support the promotion of Chinese language and culture across all regions. To further provide sustainable development to the Special Program in Foreign Language-Chinese Mandarin of DepEd, the AUF and Confucius Institute Headquarters managed to set-up the Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Chinese Language Teaching and English (BSEd CLT-English) in 2014 and the Master of Arts in Education major in Chinese Language Teaching in 2019.

Host University: Angeles University Foundation

Angeles University Foundation, a non-stock, non-profit educational institution, was established on May 25, 1962 by Mr. Agustin P. Angeles, Dr. Barbara Y. Angeles, and family. In less than nine years, the Institution was granted University status on April 16, 1971 by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports.

On December 4, 1975, the University was converted to a non-stock, non-profit educational foundation -- the Angeles couple and their children executed a Deed of Donation relinquishing their ownership. AUF was incorporated under Republic Act No. 6055, otherwise known as the Foundation Law, and became a tax-exempt institution approved by the Philippine government. All donations and bequests given to the AUF are tax deductible.

On February 14, 1978, AUF was converted to a Catholic University. As the first Catholic university in Central Luzon, AUF ensures not only professional success but total development which is anchored on Christian education that is holistic, integrated and formative. On February 20, 1990, the five-storey, 125-bed AUF Medical Center was inaugurated which now serves as a private teaching, training and research hospital, the first ever in Central Luzon.

Partner Chinese University: Fujian Normal University

Fujian Normal University (FNU), a century-old university based in Fuzhou, a historic cultural city known as “Land of Culture on the Coast”, is a time-honored and well-acclaimed provincial institution of higher learning. Founded as Fujian Superior Normal School in 1907 by the famous late-Qing scholar Chen Baochen, who once served as the teacher of China’s last emperor, the present day FNU went through a few changes—merging with the former Hwa-Nan Women’s College of Arts and Sciences, Fukien Christian University and Fujian Provincial Teachers School respectively—to form Fujian Teachers College in 1953. In 1972, the University was renamed Fujian Normal University and has been thus referred to since then. In 2012, the Ministry of Education and Fujian government began to jointly support the development of the University. FNU was designated as provincial high-level university for prioritized construction in 2014 and as provincial first-class university in 2018.