On the evening of February 9 (Barbados local time), a lunar New Year party for returned students from China was held by the Confucius Institute affiliated to the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill (UWI Cave Hill) at the New Century Hotel. Nearly thirty guests including Dr. Anthony Fisher, Director of the International Office at UWI Cave Hill, Ms. Janet Carro, Head of the Office of Recruitment & Marketing at the same University, and the chief planner of the famous “Fish-Dragon Festival”, Tonika Sealy, presented at the event.
The Chinese Co-Director of the said Confucius Institute, Prof. Song Qingbao, hosted the party. He extended New Year's greetings and expressed gratitude for the attendees’ firm support for the work of his Institute during the past year. After that, the staff of the Confucius Institute and other participants introduced themselves to each other, during which many Barbadian students were surprised to find that it was their hance to match those familiar names with the real persons on hand. As the final part of this get-together, the foreign Co-Director of the Confucius Institute, Mr. Francois Jackman, delivered a speech hoping that the operation of the CI at UWI Cave Hill would be lifted to a new height in the Year of Monkey.
The gathering not only promoted the mutual understanding between the Confucius Institute and student returnees who once studied in China, but also highlighted the Institute’s pivotal role in advancing education exchanges between China and Barbados.
