Zambia Country Brief: Chinese Influence in Education, May 2021

The CI at UNZA mainly provides Chinese-language instruction to university students, staff, and the public at large. The CI and the Zambian Ministry of Education (MoE) have established 17 additional locations for Chinese language classes at universities, public secondary schools, and several private schools across all 10 provinces. The CI at UNZA is coordinated by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, also known as Hanban, which is an agency of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Hanban directly funds and manages all CI staff, and in 2012, it funded the construction of a new building on UNZA's campus to house the CI and other university staff. The Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia: Language and Programming was established in July 2010 under the leadership of a local director and a Chinese deputy director, who was appointed from HUEB. The CI aims to promote education cooperation and mutual understanding through Chinese language instruction, cultural events, teacher training, and the administration of several Chinese proficiency tests, including Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) and the Youth Chinese Test (YCT). The CI is the only institution within Zambia that teaches Chinese language, and it offers both short and long-term courses. Short-term courses run four times a year for approximately 12 weeks and are organized into four proficiency levels. These courses primarily cater to university students; however, they are open to staff and the general public. The CI also supports programming at three other tertiary sites – Mulungushi University (MU), Copperbelt University, and Livingstone Institute of Business and Engineering Studies (LIBES). At MU, Chinese language courses are mandatory for all students within the School of Social Science's International Relations and Development department. At LIBES, Chinese language courses have been developed for specific majors, including international tourism and food production. The CI is also mandated to organize cultural and extracurricular events for students and the community. The annual Chinese Bridge Competition draws both university and secondary school students from across Zambia to demonstrate their Chinese language skills for an opportunity to travel to China to compete against students from around the world. Chinese support at the primary and secondary level in Zambia also focuses on Chinese language instruction. In 2013, the Zambian MoE, in collaboration with the CI and Hanban, embedded Chinese into its curriculum framework as an optional foreign language starting in junior secondary school (Grades 8-9). Initially rolled out as a pilot program, junior and senior secondary students drawn from 10 public secondary schools and several private schools began learning Chinese in 2014. One to two volunteer teachers from China are appointed by Hanban to each school to conduct Chinese language classes and cultural events. In May 2019, it was reported that the MoE planned to scale up its implementation of Chinese language courses across all public secondary schools at the start of the 2020 school year.