India’s first ‘Confucius Institute’ was inaugrated at the Kalinga campus in Santa Cruz, Mumbai by Mumbai University and Tianjin University of Technology (TUT), People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Thursday – July 18th, 2013.

The Confucius Institute (CI) will initiate a Chinese language course, promote art and culture in India . It will also start a student and faculty exchange programme between the two nations.

A symbolic plaque was unveiled by Rajesh Tope, Minister for Higher & Technical Education. Also present at the occasion were Padamalkar Valvi – Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Meng Qingong – Chairman of TUT Board and Liu Youfa, Consul-General of People’s Republic of China (PRC)in Mumbai.

The Confucius Institute, once set-up will be headed by 2 officials, one from Mumbai University and the other from TUT or Hanban. Once Indian teachers learn Chinese, they will then go to China and teach Hindi and English language to the Chinese students and teachers.

Confucius Institutes (CI) headquarters are located in Beijing. They are non-profit public institutions aligned with the Government of the People’s Republic of China that aim to promote language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges. The CI programme is overseen by the Office of the Chinese Language International (Hanban).