Confucius Institute in Auckland
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Zoom Meeting
6 April 2020, 13:00
Present:
Prof. Jenny Dixon (Chair), Prof. Helen Nicholson, Prof. Paul Clark,
Danny Chan, Pat English, Peter Chin,
Prof. Zhimin Chen, Prof. Zhongwei Wu, Prof Lian Lu,
In attendance:
Nora Yao, Bing Zhou, Janine Chin, Lin Li, Chriss Hamilton
Apologies:
Li Yanguang
COVID-19 update:
• Prof. Dixon noted that Auckland University is working on preparations to drop from
Covid 19 Level 4 to Level 3 but the University will remain closed until further notice. It
is also likely that the New Zealand government wil keep the border closed due to
concerns that the virus can be transmitted by new arrivals.
• Prof. Chen mentioned that Fudan University has cancelled all of the Summer
Programmes and is expecting that the new semester will resume as normal. However,
there is still great uncertainty regarding this.
1. Welcome
• Chairperson Prof. Dixon welcomed the Board members to the Zoom meeting.
2. Minutes from previous meeting, 12 November 2019
Corrections: No Corrections
Approval of minutes: Moved Prof. Dixon, seconded by Pat English.
Matters Arising
Prof. Dixon noted that originally the meeting was to be held in Otago but due to the
outbreak of Covid-19 and in consultation with Otago, it was agreed to cancel
arrangements. Right decision made with lockdown imposed by government.
3. Financial Reports – presented by Janine Chin
Period: 01/01/019 – 31/12/ 2019
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1357 Hanban Fund:
Revenue description rephrased to “reimbursement revenue in line with budgeted
project spend” to better reflect funding received.
People costs increased due to contractor for website upgrade work and CI director’s
reallocation of time from SCLL (School Culture, Languages and Linguistics) to CI.
Operating expenses increased due to extra costs relating to the National MLA
workshop but were reimbursed by Hanban as an additional project for the year.
MLA actual spend noted is much higher than the approved funding due to inclusion
of MLA accommodation subsidy costs. CI received half of the reimbursement for
MLA’s accommodation in July and expect to receive the remaining (USD135K) by
mid-2020.
Some Confucius Classroom costs were not submitted end of 2019 so carried over to
2020.
Approximately USD18K was unspent from the National MLA workshop which wil be
carried over to the next MLA national workshop.
1358 UOA Fund:
Large increase in
Occupancy due to the office re-allocation from OGGB to Pembridge
House.
Others:
There has been no confirmation from the Ministry of Education regarding renewal of
2020 MLA contract. Possibility that no funding wil be provided due to the
cancel ation of the 2020 MLA programme (which has been affected by COVID-19).
Further follow ups will be made with MOE.
CI is still waiting to hear from University’s Property Finance with an update on
Pembridge House costs. Interest, however, is still accumulating in the Pembridge
House account.
Period: 01/01/2020 – 29/02/2020
1357 Hanban Fund:
Significant decrease in operational expenses due to the cancellation of 2020 MLA
programme caused by COVID-19.
Increase in Confucius Classroom expenses due mainly to 2019 reimbursements
carried and paid in 2020.
1358 UOA Fund:
Occupancy has decreased as CI is now paying only for the spaces occupied on the
upper level of the building as opposed to paying for the whole building.
Others: 2020 budget was submitted to Hanban and now waiting for approval. No funding
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has been received for this time period yet. However, there are still sufficient funds in
the Foundation account to support CI operations.
Discussions:
Funding concern:
Prof. Clark asked whether Hanban wil offer less funding towards the projects due to
COVID-19.
Prof. Chen explained that Hanban is currently in a transition period and the budget for CIs
should already be tentatively allocated. There might be a small reduction due to the
likelihood of fewer activities for the year and consideration of the government’s overall
economic situation. It was recommended that CI liaise with Hanban directly to clarify any
details.
Innovation of learning:
Prof. Chen noted that Mr. Ma Jianfei (Hanban’s director) suggested in August 2019 the
idea of promoting online (distance) learning of Chinese Language in the upcoming future.
Hanban supports the idea and is looking at ways to push forward in this direction.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools to commence online teaching which could be
an opportunity for CI to collate teaching experiences, methods and modules in order to
reach out to more students.
Acceptance of financial report: Moved Prof. Dixon, seconded Danny Chan.
4. Confucius Institute Report - presented by Nora Yao
Review of activities from November 2019 – March 2020
Programme highlights:
Staff: CI will work with HR to recruit a replacement for the Office Coordinator role.
MLA Programme: Temporarily cancelled until further notice depending on COVID-19
updates. A zoom meeting was held with all 2020 MLAs. All are safe and well in
China. The MLAs will remain in CI’s selection pool. Otago’s TA returned to China and
unable to return to New Zealand due to border controls but is currently running
online classes for her students.
Chinese in schools: CI has communicated frequently with schools regarding the MLA
programme, including its postponement. Schools have been very supportive and
understanding. A number have continued with their programmes whereas others
have ‘stopped’ due to a lack of resources/capability. Currently CI is planning to work
more closely with the NZCLTA (NZ Chinese Language Teachers Assn), to provide
teachers with more support including online teaching.
Exams: With no MLAs this year, CI has worked on recruiting and training members of
the local community to be exam supervisors. This will help provide a viable
alternative for the supervisor shortage. The April and May exams have been
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cancel ed due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Language courses: CI recruited two former MLAs to run the Chinese courses, which
commenced in February. The NZ Police course will re-commence when able post
COVID-19 lockdown and at a time convenient to them.
CI Annual Conference in Changsha, December 2019: CI Deputy Director Prof. Zhou
Bing was awarded the “2019 Performance Excellence”; AKL CI was awarded the
“No.1 Test Centre in the Oceania region”; and Fudan University was awarded the
“Best Partner Institution”. Prof Dixon and the Board congratulated all for their
awards and acknowledged all the hard work and effort everyone has contributed.
5. Otago Office Report - presented by Chriss Hamilton
Review of activities planned for 2020
Highlighted Activities:
Due to COVID-19, all workshops and large-scale culture activities planned for staff and
students for the first Semester has been cancelled. Otago is expecting that these activities
can be run in some way in the second Semester on a fortnightly instead of a monthly basis.
Discussions with be held with community groups and partners to ensure the safe running of
future workshops.
• Workshops: focused workshops included and to be worked on with community
partners to support them and provide information they need.
Otago Business School -what’s it like doing business in China?
School of Performing Arts - Chinese Music and Opera;
Global Citizenship Group (student-led focus on UN sustainable development
goals) – China’s place in the world and links with research in these areas.
• Tai Chi: would like to continue in the Clocktower lawn in the second Semester.
• Calligraphy: workshop that can be extended to staff and students.
• Summer School: A Lion Dance was held around Chinese New Year which was well
received.
• 2020 Budget has been revised and will stay within the $10k budget.
• The 2019 trial workshops were run successfully and had attracted strong interest
and excitement from the audience last year. However, due to current pandemic, it
will take some time to recover and rebuild audience interest again.
6. Sub-board meetings in Auckland – presented by Ms. Yao
The purpose of the meeting: explained by Prof. Dixon
The New Zealand - China Free Trade Agreement upgrade has increased the annual number
of MLAs from 150 to 300.
Some considerations required:
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• How will increase in numbers be managed and
• What additional staffing and financial support required?
CI has been informed by Hanban that accommodation subsidies are not likely available for
additional MLAs and current MLA subsidies are likely to be slowly reduced.
The Board acknowledged the substantial support from Hanban since the start of the MLA
programme and agreed that it would be desirable to increase the NZ contribution.
Tentative budget proposal (based on assumptions) for increasing numbers of MLAs in
future years:
Nora presented some model ing of the costs of additional MLAs (over and above funded
numbers in 2019) and how costs could be shared across schools.
Spreadsheet outlining:
• fixed accommodation supplement received from Hanban each year;
• forecast including a gradual increase of MLAs each year versus the costs required to
cover their accommodation/administration from CI
• increased contributions from schools to cover the cost differences.
Comments from the Board:
• The school contribution for each MLA is quite small and affordable.
• CI would gradually increase the school’s contributions towards MLA’s
accommodation supplement as more MLAs to arrive each year. This al ows CI to
obtain funding to help cover the related administrative expenses.
• CI would notify the schools as early as possible regarding the additional funding
required to contribute to the MLA programme so that schools can include this in
their annual budgets.
• Some schools may be in a better position to contribute to the MLA programme than
others which means that CI can consider a flexible tailor-based contribution plan
with the respective schools (based on their individual circumstances).
• The proposal could help reduce MLA stress levels with smaller school clusters and
potentially improve overall outcomes.
Follow up:
Prof. Dixon had a preliminary chat with Victoria Confucius Institute’s Tony Browne and
Adele Bryant and all are thinking along the same lines. In the middle of the year, CIs will
raise this suggestion to Hanban and seek their view.
7. Any other business
• CI has submitted the 2020 budget to Hanban and is waiting for further
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feedback/approval.
• Mr. Chan would like to introduce some people who are interested in supporting
Chinese language week. Mr. Chan will discuss this further with Prof. Clark and Ms.
Yao.
• Prof. Chen noted that Hanban is going through a transition period and is moving to
become a non-governmental agency funded by a Foundation. CI should note this for
their information.
8. Next MEETING
• Proposed Board meeting in August/September by zoom - date to be confirmed and
documents will be circulated by email.
The meeting concluded at 14:25pm.
Minutes submitted by: Nina Zhang
Approved by:
Chair: Professor Jenny Dixon
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Document Outline
