Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): Good morning, folks. I welcome Professor Sir Richard Barnett, the vice chancellor of Ulster University; Dr David Barr, the head of the school of languages; Professor Jan Jedrzejewski, the dean of the Confucius Institute and the dean of the faculty of arts; and Mrs Yan Liu, the director of the Confucius Institute. Sir Richard, over to you.

Professor Richard Barnett (Ulster University): Xie xie, ni hao.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): Have you been practising that specially?

Professor Barnett: No. I just want to see it in the transcript later.

Ms Lo: Ni hao.

Professor Barnett: Chairman, thank you for your welcome and for asking us to give a presentation on this important part of the university's work. It is also an important part of the work that we are doing in partnership on behalf of Northern Ireland to link with one of the world's most important countries and economies. It is important for us to have those links going forward. At the moment, the links are similar to those of the British Council. It is soft diplomacy, but it is building links for the long term. Those links will serve us well in the long term, so, as individuals from here study there and build up friendships, they will know who to talk to when business is being done. That is an important part of our work.

I say that to set the context. I now hand over to Professor Jan Jedrzejewski, who, as you said, is the dean of our faculty of arts and is dean of the Confucius Institute. If you are content, Jan will talk you through the presentation, and we will then address any questions.

Professor Jan Jedrzejewski (Ulster University): Mr Chairman, I will say a few words on the briefing paper that you have all received and concentrate on some of its key issues.

As the vice chancellor said, the Confucius Institute is a part of a worldwide network of institutions whose direct objective is to promote Chinese language and culture across the world. There are over 400 Confucius Institutes worldwide, and there are 25 in the UK and two in the Republic of Ireland. Ours is obviously the only one in the Province. What needs to be stressed is that those institutes are structured very much as cooperative ventures that normally involve an institution from the host country and an institution — normally an academic institution — from China. That translates directly into the mechanism of the operation of the Confucius Institutes, because there is stress on direct cooperation between the participant universities and the regions in which they are situated. Our primary partner is the Zhejiang University of Media and Communications (ZUMC) in Zhejiang, and that gives opportunities for the development of links between Northern Ireland and that province in south-east China, which is not far from Shanghai.

Linked to the Confucius Institutes is a sister programme called Confucius classroom, which is tasked directly with the teaching of Chinese in primary and secondary schools and its promotion worldwide. We very much operate as a Confucius Institute and also have that important Confucius classroom dimension. We have eight hubs within the 92 hubs in the United Kingdom, which is in addition to the eight hubs in the Republic of Ireland. So there are as many hubs in the Province as there are across the Republic.

In structural and administrative terms, the institute was launched in April 2012. Our activity in the first few months was about building up the institute and its staff, and we have appointed a director at our end — Yan Liu. Across the world, there are normally two directors of Confucius Institutes, one appointed by each of the partner universities, so we have a colleague who has been appointed by ZUMC on the Coleraine campus.

We have two offices, one of which is in Coleraine, as that is where the faculty of arts is headquartered and where we deliver the provision in Chinese at university level as part of our broader offering in modern languages, which I will talk about in a moment. The other office is in Belfast. Obviously, as we know, Belfast is the capital city of the Province, and the office there deals with all the cultural activity and liaises with schools in the eastern part of the Province.

As I said, the institute is about the promotion of Chinese culture and the celebration of all aspects of Chinese tradition and heritage, such as music, theatre, calligraphy, culinary arts, martial arts and everything that falls within the broad concept of culture and civilisation.

We deliver the teaching of Chinese through the Confucius hubs at primary and secondary school level and at university level. We also carry out all manner of outreach activities. Although it is not our primary remit to work with businesses, we are very much open to the promotion of Northern Ireland and the promotion of business links, tourism and so on.

We have eight hub schools, through which we work with 121 schools across the Province. The eight schools function as administrative and management centres for the teachers who are based in a particular part of the Province, and they operate out of those hub schools and work with children from a dozen schools or thereabouts in the vicinity. As you can see from the briefing paper, the hub schools are spread across the Province. We have quite a balanced coverage in that respect, and students from all counties can have access to Confucius hubs. It is also worth noting that we have a diverse range of hubs. Although the majority are in secondary schools, we have a hub in Millburn Primary School in Coleraine and also in the South West College in Enniskillen. We operate from the primary to the further education sector.

You have the recruitment results for the Confucius hubs. About 6,000 students were recruited to our courses in 2014, and a significant number have taken Chinese language examinations. Obviously, not all students will necessarily be ready at the end of their period of study to take those courses, but over 1,300 students successfully passed their first Chinese exams. That is a very good figure. When I first took over this post at the Confucius Institute about a year ago, it was really heartening to see dozens and dozens of young people receiving their certificates at the Waterfront Hall during the Chinese new year celebrations. That was testimony to the efficient work of our Confucius teachers, all of whom come from China and are brought over by the Confucius classroom. The majority come from our second partner university, the Hubei Normal University, which we work with on the Confucius classroom projects.

I will move on to the delivery of Chinese at university level and broader academic collaboration. We are the broadest-ranging provider of high-level education in modern languages in the Province, and Chinese is part of that. Chinese is now delivered in two formats: as part of the applied languages programme — it is not one of the main languages, but there is an opportunity to acquire some beginner's Chinese — and as a dedicated minor pathway in the combined project from this year as a direct consequence of the existence of the Confucius Institute on the Coleraine campus, so you can study subjects such as other modern languages — French, German and Spanish — as well as English and business with Chinese. This opens up a direct pathway, which will be phased in over the next two and a half years to take students up to degree level in Chinese as a minor subject. Of course, these are very early days, but there is interest, and we hope that the interest that children develop from studying Chinese through the Confucius classroom hubs will eventually translate into great interest in the study of Chinese at university level.

We have also listed some of the outreach activities, primarily of a cultural nature, but it is important to mention that, while our remit is primarily cultural and educational, it is sometimes difficult to indicate where exactly cultural and educational activity ends and business activity begins. I offer a very recent example. I happened to chair a revalidation panel in civil engineering in the South West College on the Omagh campus, and I was really glad to hear the enthusiasm with which students there talked about opportunities to visit China on a trip organised by the Confucius Institute specifically for students taking Chinese in the South West College. They could visit some important building projects in China — dams and things like that — which feeds directly into their professional expertise, as well as helping to develop an awareness of the world and Chinese technology. It is also possible that it could produce employment opportunities, and it would enhance their employability by making them aware of the work that can be done with China and so on. Importantly, all those trips that we help to organise are a very attractive proposition for Northern Irish people, because, once the visitors whom we send to China cross the border, all their expenses are covered by the Confucius Institute headquarters, and they have to pay only for the visa and the long-haul flight. Beyond that, it is all covered. Those are the main issues that I thought were worth focusing on in relation to the work of the Confucius Institute. As the vice chancellor said, my colleagues and I are delighted to answer any questions.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): Why Ulster University? Did you put yourselves forward to be a Confucius centre, or did Confucius approach you? How was that relationship initiated?

Professor Barnett: I initiated it several years ago. It fits with what Ulster University is about. Ulster University is here to work in partnership and to promote the economic, social and cultural development of this region. As I said, a key part of the future of this region is the development of international links, and China is one of the most important economies and societies in the world. It is a powerhouse whose importance will only increase. It is important for us to link as universities and to facilitate Northern Ireland linking with China. I made several visits to get a partner institution that wanted to work with us, because it is a joint application to Hanban. I should say — perhaps I should have said at the beginning — that our success was made possible by great support from the Assembly, the Executive and this Committee, and that mattered a lot when making that presentation. It so happened that Jonathan Bell was in China, and he made the presentation with me. The fact that he was there speaking on behalf of the Assembly and the Executive was probably more important than my being there, because it matters in China that there is government support, and you are there working together. Jonathan Bell happened to be at that part, but that did not matter. What was important was that a member of the Executive was there speaking for us and with us. We thank you for that. We developed that very much as a partnership.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): Paragraph 3.5 of the submission states that the number of students went from 269 in 2013 to 6,093 in 2014. That is fantastic growth in a year. Where is your limit?

Professor Jedrzejewski: The limit depends on how many teachers we get from Hanban, the Confucius Institute headquarters. At this point, we have been promised another 10 teachers for the coming academic year. So instead of having 28 we will have 38, which means that there is a significant opportunity for further increases. We have to remember, however, that the teachers from Hanban are full-time employees of our respective partner university — in this case, Hubei Normal University. All but three of our Confucius teachers are from Hubei Normal, and Hubei Normal is limited in the number of staff whom it can send over. How far it can go is a matter for negotiation between us and Hanban and Hubei Normal University. Given that all the funding and all the manpower and woman power to deliver the courses comes from the Chinese, it is really what they can offer that largely determines how broadly we can spread our activity in the Province.

Professor Barnett: May I come in on the classroom initiatives, Chair, where we are one of the most successful institutes? What award did we get from Hanban?

Mrs Yan Liu (Ulster University): We got the new star of the year award from our Confucius headquarters. Only 20 Confucius Institutes in 121 countries around the world receive this award, so we are really honoured.

Professor Barnett: I think about how they will build on that success, and the Confucius classroom side of our activity and the work in schools have really been the stellar successes.

Professor Jedrzejewski: If I may say so, when Yan, our Chinese director, and I went to a meeting at UCD in June of Confucius Institutes established within the last five years, we made a very big impression by quoting our student numbers and the number of successful exam results and so on. There were universities there from all across Europe. It was a regional meeting for European Confucius Institutes that were under five years of age. When we mentioned our figures, the look on the faces of the other members was something to behold and something to be rather proud of.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): What interaction do you have with the other Confucius Institutes?

Professor Jedrzejewski: We have links, and Yan will be able to say a little more about that. We have links with Confucius Institutes, particularly in the UK and Ireland. Straight after that meeting in Dublin, we brought representatives of the UK Confucius Institutes to Belfast for a training session and to share good practices, specifically in relation to the nature of teaching Chinese to English speakers and so on, so we do have direct links and interactions with them.

Mrs Liu: We have close working relationships with the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools, we work closely with the IOE Confucius Institute for Schools in England, and we also work closely with UCD and the Confucius Institute in Cork. There are 25 Confucius Institutes in the UK and two Confucius Institutes in the Republic of Ireland. We meet two or three times a year to discuss issues, and we normally contact each other every month to see what joint programmes we can run for the whole of the UK and Ireland.

Ms Lo: Sorry, I have to go soon, so I am the first member to ask a question. Congratulations to you, Richard, on getting your knighthood in the new year's honours list. I am very sorry to hear that you are leaving.

Professor Barnett: Thank you for those comments.

Ms Lo: Obviously, the institute has done really great work in the last two years. I remember that you got the great accolade of Madam Liu coming for the launch. She was the most senior female politician in China at the time, so it was a great endorsement. Young people are showing a huge interest in learning Chinese at school, so that has started, and you will develop it.

You briefly mentioned the promotion of business and tourism. In what way do you do that? There is huge potential in linking up with China, especially when you hear about Apple making staggering profits, mainly because of Chinese people buying iPhones, and there are 1·3 billion people there. How can the institute help people here to develop economic links and tourism, particularly as a Chinese consulate is to be opened in Belfast?

Professor Jedrzejewski: Yan will be able to develop that a little. Before I pass on to her, however, I will say that we work quite closely with the Chinese embassy. When delegations from various regions of China come over to the Province, we organise events for them. We had a meeting in this Building about three months ago, for example, with a delegation from the joint regional government and an academic delegation from the Chongqing province. That meeting involved a number of people from across Northern Ireland and also our graduates, so there were opportunities for establishing links. We work with Invest NI and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce. Operating through word of mouth is a big thing; because of all our linkages and sending people to China, they are bringing visitors over here. We have quite a number of delegations from China from various walks of life. Some are government and business delegations such as I just described, and some are delegations related to our academic links. In May or June, we had a delegation from the Hong Kong headquarters that was here specifically to look at the way we administer our examinations. With significant numbers of people from China visiting here and people from Northern Ireland going to China, a certain momentum is developed. There are even the small things; 28 teachers from China are here, and their parents, friends and siblings visit Northern Ireland. When they go home, they spread the word about the time that they have had here. Given that we also look after them and organise events for them, they get a good feel for Northern Irish hospitality. From that point of view, in very practical terms, it is significant. Yan, do you want to add to that?

Mrs Liu: We get great support from the Chinese consulate general office, especially this year, when it was announced that there will be a Chinese consulate general office in Northern Ireland. The consulate will help us with the promotion of links with China. We also provide seminars on doing business with China. We have a few seminars. We have joint events with Belfast City Council, Derry City Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Invest Northern Ireland.

Professor Barnett: There is also the new Northern Ireland office in Beijing.

Mrs Liu: Yes.

Ms Lo: That is still in doubt. Is it going to be set up? We are not sure about that.

Professor Barnett: The personnel in Beijing then, if not the office.

Dr David Barr (Ulster University): I should also say that, at university level, we are offering courses thanks to the Confucius Institute on cultural communication and awareness. We have delivered a number of short courses to businesses in the Belfast area, such as Lunn's jewellers and Titanic Belfast. They have sent staff to learn about dealing with different cultures and different cultural cues, and dealing with Chinese visitors. The feedback from that has been very positive. They have really benefited, and it has helped their businesses. We are also developing a similar programme with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB).

Ms Lo: Very good; that is very important. The culture and the way they do things in China are very different. Would you consider, for example, linking up with DETI and Invest NI? They go to China at least once if not twice a year. You could link up with them even for a prep course or seminar before the business people go to China.

Mrs Liu: We have been invited a few times to give presentations and preparation briefings.

Ms Lo: Teach them a few words, like "Xie, xie" and "Kung Hay Fat Choy".

Mr Ramsey: Good morning. You are all very welcome. It is one of the more warming stories to hear your positiveness. I was on the Committee when Dolores Kelly was Chair and Jonathan Bell was Deputy Chair. That was a key time, when Yan, in particular, was motivating and encouraging Committee members to be involved. Richard, I suppose that this will be one of your legacies after you move on. Just in case this is your last Committee presentation, I want to wish you well. Thank you very much for your cooperation, help and leadership in Ulster University. May you have health and happiness to enjoy whatever the next part of your journey will be.

Professor Barnett: Thank you, Pat. It is much appreciated.

Mr Ramsey: I am a member of the all-party group on the development of links with China. The productivity level is fairly obvious. Clearly, it is educational, but, Richard, you are right to say that there are social, economic and cultural links. A student is shadowing me this week. Mind you, he has not seen much of me to shadow. Conor is in the Public Gallery today. He attends Our Lady and St Patrick's College and is studying Mandarin, so it has become quite a favoured subject on students' educational journeys.

I have seen the figures. Some 6,000 Northern Ireland students have registered with the institute. That is remarkable, given the short period that it is up and running. I want to know how there can be further development in schools. In my constituency, there are key links with two colleges, St Columb's and Lumen, which are most effective. How can we ensure that that will also happen with the other secondary schools? Are there any lessons to be learned from the Confucius Institutes in Dublin or Scotland to enable us to do things better? Is there best practice elsewhere? Anna is right: how do we get a dividend in economic terms, whether in tourism or business?

Professor Barnett: I think you are right. There is the kind of issue that Anna was talking about. Obviously, short-term issues are the importance of the development of tourism and business links, and those are immediate. However, we should not underestimate the long-term benefits of social diplomacy, such as the people who have been to China and understand the culture. That is there for the long haul, and the more we can do of that with a range of schools, the better. However, I should say that the schools listed in the written presentation are the hubs, or what I call "the mother ships". These are where the teachers are based, but they will be teaching in a network of schools around those hubs. We put forward a range of schools to the Hanban; the Hanban chose the hubs and, as Yan said, there is a range of grammar, secondary, primary schools and FE colleges. For example, look at the network of schools in Derry. Yan, do you have a list of the schools in the networks in Derry? It is not just the two schools named; that is important. They are the hubs.

Mrs Liu: Lumen Christi College is a hub, and it works with St Mary's College, Thornhill College, and Nazareth House, Good Shepherd, Longtower and St Patrick's (Pennyburn) primary schools. Also we have another hub, St Columb's College.

Professor Barnett: What schools does St Columb's work with?

Mrs Liu: St Columb's College works with Thornhill Grammar School and Culmore, Model and Steelstown primary schools in Derry.

Mr Ramsey: You have not left many out there, anyway.

It is always good to hear that we are doing so well in my constituency, particularly at primary-school level. You are trying to motivate at the post-primary level, but primary is also key. And it decides careers as well: you are promoting the learning of an additional language.

Let us talk about economic links and the business community, Richard. Clearly, the economy of China is outstripping every other. How can we benefit from that? Is there anything that we can hobby-horse on to that can enrich our own communities given the level of recession and depression that is about?

Professor Barnett: The key thing for us, and for the Northern Ireland economy as a whole as we rebalance it and move forward, is to develop the export sector. That is where growth will come from. The more connections and opportunities we can get for our companies to export, the better. There are great success stories already about firms connecting with China. It is just about building up those connections and exporting more. It is a massive, growing and affluent market. The whole thing is changing from where it was.

Mr Ramsey: It is a remarkable story, as one would say. I think that you should all take a bow, Yan in particular, for your involvement.

Mr Buchanan: You are welcome. I want to commend you, the university, and the institute for the work you have all been doing. When you look at the numbers involved, you realise it is tremendous. It shows that there is an interest and a desire to link in here. Pat has already touched on some of the things that I wanted to focus on. You have eight hubs and a roll-out is happening in the primary schools and so forth. You have explained that. It is good to see that the roll-out is beginning to happen and is getting into the primary schools. What work does the institute and university do with the business community here? That has been touched on as well, but we must try and get a business link between here and China.

Professor Jedrzejewski: As I said, we organise seminars which facilitate, if you like, cultural knowledge and familiarity with the way in which we operate with Chinese partners. We are also very happy to organise events that facilitate links, particularly when you have visitors from China, so that they can meet potential partners in Northern Ireland, and graduates or near graduates of the university, to develop employment opportunities and opportunities for the acquisition of good practice.

When we send our graduates anywhere in the world, it is always with a view to the fact that, at some point or other in their lives, the majority will come back and bring all the contacts and developmental opportunities they acquired while abroad. As a result, they will promote the establishment of further links. From that point of view, it seems to me that this is a positive input that we can offer.

Dr Barr: To give you a practical example; we have extended the short course provision mentioned in relation to Chinese culture to include a beginners' course in the Chinese language. One company that had particular success in that regard was Wrightbus. We sent staff out to the Wrightbus headquarters in Ballymena to teach a six-week course — one day a week — in Chinese. We have that model to roll out to other companies, and, this year, a number have expressed an interest in doing it. Through the course, they are getting a sample of the Chinese language, and cultural awareness and development, to help them appreciate the basic skills of etiquette that might help them when they are dealing with business.

Mr Buchanan: When you can point to tangible examples of the success, that is to be commended. Again, congratulations on the work you are doing.

Mr Anderson: Richard, I thank you and your team for coming along today. This certainly is a success story. The Chair and members have focused on the fact that the numbers rose from 269 in 2013 to over 6,000 in 2014, which is tremendous. Some of the points I was going to raise have been touched on.

You identified eight hubs. I know they are spread across Northern Ireland, but I notice that there are two in Belfast, two in Londonderry and one each in Bangor, Carrickfergus, Coleraine and Enniskillen. There is quite a big part of the Province that does not have a hub. I am thinking about down my own way in the Upper Bann constituency. How were the areas for the hubs identified and picked?

Professor Barnett: We asked for expressions of interest and then did some selection. How many did we put forward?

Mrs Liu: Twenty.

Professor Barnett: The Hanban took those and selected eight. I agree that they are not ideally distributed, but they do have wide coverage.

Mr Anderson: Is it your intention to have more hubs?

Professor Barnett: We can make a bid to increase the number.

Mrs Liu: Yes, we can.

Professor Barnett: That is what we will do.

Mr Anderson: That is good to know. Richard, you said that there are 121 schools involved in the whole operation. Did I pick you up right?

Professor Barnett: Yes.

Mr Anderson: Is it your intention to spread out and get more schools involved?

Professor Jedrzejewski: Yes, resources permitting. As I said earlier, the resources for that come from Hanban. We would be delighted to develop more hubs and more participating schools but our funding for what we can offer comes from the Confucius Institute's headquarters, and the manpower and womanpower, as regards teachers, are those identified and sponsored by headquarters. As I said, we have been successful in securing another 10 teachers. That has significantly increased our ability to —

Mr Anderson: Is that 10 on top of the 28?

Professor Jedrzejewski: Yes.

Mr Anderson: So, that is now 38.

Professor Jedrzejewski: It is a significant increase. Obviously, we have to work with what our partner institution and the headquarters of the Confucius Institute can offer us. That is the mechanism for the operation of the venture.

Professor Barnett: Also of benefit has been our partnership with Hubei Normal. For the classroom initiative, that has been fantastic. In China, if a university does something normal, that means its origins are in teacher education or a key part of it. So, the young people we are getting are specialists in teaching the language. If you get them from some other institution, they may be historians or whatever. We are getting specialists and it has been a great partnership.

We are teaching introductory-level Chinese in primary and post-primary schools. A few years down the line, people will be going into post-primary where children already have the introductory level, so how will that be built on? These have been some of the teething issues for young people coming across. Perhaps they have been challenging, initially, for some of the primary people but I think we have sorted that out because it is a similar course to the post-primary.

Mr Anderson: I note that 122 students and 289 principals and teachers have gone on sponsored visits to China so far. How are they chosen and is that spread across the Province?

Mrs Liu: Yes, they are from all the hub schools. This is one of the programmes we have from headquarters, so once we get the information about the programme that headquarters is going to run, we send an email to the hub schools and the schools that are partnered with them.

Every year we have had a limited number of places but this year the number has been doubled to 240 each year. These places will be for students across all of Northern Ireland.

Mr Anderson: I note that there are more principals and teachers going out than students. Does it have to be like that? Is there any reason why more teachers than students go?

Mrs Liu: No. Students go to China on a two-week exchange programme. Last year, there was a change in the programme, because before 2013 they offered the programme only in the summertime, which was two weeks in July. Principals can go in a time that is suitable for the schools. There will be more principals and heads of language departments going because they are anxious to go in the summertime or during the Easter break. There is that flexibility.

This year, however, headquarters changed the programme to provide 30 places to each hub school in Northern Ireland, and they can choose to go at any time that is suitable for them. This year, in fact, we will have more students, with 100 from Grosvenor Grammar School and South West College in particular, and our own language students who plan to go to China in May, June, July and October. Those months are suitable for them rather than July.

Mr Anderson: Do students from the 121 schools that feed into the hubs also have the opportunity to go?

Mrs Liu: They do, yes.

Professor Jedrzejewski: It is important at the initial stage to encourage head teachers and principals to visit China in order to familiarise themselves with what they will be buying into if they develop Chinese provision in their schools. It is also a marketing effort on the part of the Confucius Institute to promote the delivery of Chinese by, first of all, encouraging the people who are in charge to possibly put in a bid to consider the development of that provision within their areas of responsibility.

Mr Anderson: It looks like a success story and I wish you well.

Ms Sugden: Welcome. I do not think it is any great surprise to people around the table that I am delighted that the HQ is in Coleraine. I have seen the benefits at first hand. You mentioned Millburn Primary School. Yan invited me to a presentation they made. What is remarkable about it is that kids up to 12 years old had such a wonderful grasp of, and respect for, a culture set apart from their own. This is a lifelong lesson as well as a skill that will stand them well in their careers.

One of the opportunities in this is the connection with the community. I am aware that we have quite a significant population of Chinese people in Northern Ireland, Coleraine and the rest of my constituency. Are you doing something to connect the Chinese community so that it integrates with the indigenous community, if you want to call it that, in Northern Ireland?

Mrs Liu: We work closely with the Mandarin Speakers Association and the Chinese Welfare Association. They are the two largest associations for the Chinese community in Northern Ireland. We also hold joint events and cultural programmes.

Ms Sugden: That is great. Richard will know that it is about trying to bring the connection of the university into Coleraine, in particular, and across all campuses. This is certainly one way of doing that.

Mr F McCann: The difficulty with coming last is that most other people have asked the questions that I was going to ask. I echo what other members have said, Richard. I wish you well in any endeavour you set yourself in the future. I have always found you to be very courteous, and you have always been willing to speak your mind, which is brilliant. I wish you well in whatever —

Professor Barnett: I have a bit more business to do on teacher education. When we have sorted that out, Fra —

Mr F McCann: Well —

Mr Ramsey: Will we do it now?

Professor Barnett: We could solve it in this room this morning if we put our minds to it —

Mr F McCann: Do you have a few hours?

I have always believed that learning languages is crucial for any person. In addition, from listening this morning, it is clear that it is about learning about not only the language but other cultures. We enrich ourselves every time we learn about another culture. That is crucially important.

When you look at the advances, certainly from reading this paper, that have been made in learning about Chinese language and culture, it brings me back to some of the stuff that we did on other aspects, when we had people in about the importance of getting it into primary schools. That is where it starts; that is where the lasting memory remains. That is a crucial element. It always amazes me, when you travel to other countries, especially in and around Europe, how ready people are to embrace not only other cultures but their languages. It is something that we have fallen far short of for many years. I have always believed that that is a crucial element. I wish you well.

Professor Barnett: Thanks, Fra. I agree with you about primary schools. People sometimes think that primary schools are a bit distant from universities and they ask why we spend so much time working with them. It is important that young kids and their parents get ambition at that stage. It is also why a lot of our widening participation work is with primary schools. This is about getting those kids and their parents thinking that university is a natural place for them and to know what is going on. The work with primary schools is important. Some people do not see that; they think that we should be working with only sixth-formers. You have to start much earlier.

Mr F McCann: Sometimes, when they get to that age, you have lost them.

Professor Barnett: Yes, and you have lost their parents as well.

Professor Jedrzejewski: One other thing to add concerning the significance of language teaching in general is about the cooperation between the practice of language teaching at school level, whether primary or secondary, and the academic expertise specifically in the area of the methodology of language teaching. We have that big time in David's school, and in the school of Irish language and literature, where the university is a major centre of research into areas such as computer-assisted language learning. That expertise sits in schools and in the three campuses of the university at Coleraine, Belfast and Magee. In this respect, given that we have the hub schools in the vicinity of the three centres of research expertise in language pedagogy, that fits in very well with the policy of the promotion of language learning that you have been talking about. It is so central to the social and economic development of the Province or anywhere in the world.

Dr Barr: The fact that we now have the situation where students are able to learn a foreign language, from primary school all the way up to university level, in a joined-up approach, is really setting a good example for developments in other languages. As the dean was saying, at the university at the moment, we have specialist provision where students can take three languages to degree level — a choice between French, Spanish and German, and now they can take Chinese. There is also a new provision that allows students who do not come from a languages background, such as those doing food and nutrition, to do a language elective. They are taking modules of Chinese each year. There is now the opportunity for forthcoming graduates to exit with Chinese qualifications as well. They are taking the HSK — the professional examinations in Chinese — as well, of course, as getting our own degree provision.

Mr F McCann: I have just one more point. When you interface with schools — primary, secondary or whatever — do you get any resistance? The world is such a small place. You are a couple of hours away from mainland Europe, and the rest of the world is eight, 10 or 12 hours away.

Professor Barnett: I do not think we have had resistance. I think it has been enthusiastic. More schools want to work with us. The question has been, "Why haven't we got one of these?" rather than, "Why are you here?" There have been teething issues — there always are — with getting the levels right and things like that, but schools want it in general.

Ms McGahan: Thank you for your presentation. Richard, I wish you all the very best in the future. I represent the Fermanagh and south Tyrone area. I live in the south Tyrone area, and it is the hub of engineering, probably not only in the North of Ireland but worldwide. We have companies like Sandvic that do excellent work. In your presentation, you mentioned outreach activities to give information to the general public. If a seminar were to be organised, for example, for engineering companies, would the point of contact be the local hub or the institute?

Professor Jedrzejewski: It would probably be the central office in Belfast, although, obviously, contacts can be established via the hub to get the details. The hubs are focused primarily on the facilitation of language teaching, but they would certainly put people in touch with —

Professor Barnett: You could come through to Yan. We will certainly organise courses if you want. I agree that it is the centre for engineering.

Ms McGahan: It is a large employer in rural areas as well.

Professor Barnett: Some of the biggest engineering companies in the world have their origins in your neck of the woods.

Mr Hilditch: You are very welcome. Thank you for the presentation. Obviously, down our way, with our chief executive, Ms Sheila McClelland, and Jackie Stewart from Downshire School, we are not allowed to forget too much about Confucius. It is very much to the fore. I will just touch on the point that Claire raised about public awareness and familiarisation with Confucius. A lot of events were organised in 2012-13, but more recently the public events seem to have dropped off, going by the website anyway. Is there any intention to reinstate some more public events to try to make people aware of the work?

Mrs Liu: Yes. There will be events for the Chinese new year on 25 and 26 February 2015. That will be a whole week of celebration, working closely with Belfast City Council, Derry City Council and Carrickfergus Borough Council to do the public joint celebrations. Those will include a taste of the language, a culture class and things like that. We also work closely with youth clubs in different areas.

Mr Hilditch: Just trying to get it out of the academic sector and into public awareness.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): Sir Richard, that is it from this side. Do you want your usual parting shot? Have you anything for us?

Professor Barnett: No, I just want to thank you for — well, you have invited me now, so I will.

Thank you for your interest in this and for your support. The support from the Committee — it was Dolores Kelly and Jonathan Bell at the time — was key, as has been the interest since then. It has developed faster than I anticipated, especially on the Confucius classroom side. That has been the real success. The other side — the other activities in the university — has been a bit slower to develop, but we can only do so much. It has been fantastic and will develop further, so thank you for your support and interest.

I think the teacher education thing can clearly be solved. There is a solution there if the parties are willing to sit down and grasp it, so I trust that you will take a keen interest in that issue, because it is also important.

The Chairperson (Mr Swann): OK, thank you.