Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) is celebrating 10 years of “fruitful cooperation” with China’s Zhejiang Normal University.
Speaking at a ceremony in Maputo to award 12 undergraduates from UEM this year’s Chinese Ambassador Scholarship, University Principal Manuel Guilherme Junior said the event was a good opportunity to celebrate the 10 years of fruitful cooperation with China’s Zhejiang Normal University, which allows Mozambique to materialize the teaching of Mandarin and the linguistic and cultural exchange with China.
“Chinese is the language of the future, the language of development in the coming times. With these learnings we can have consulting services and benefit from the global world through communication in a language spoken by many people around the world,” said the principal, quoted by Xinhua.
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Guilherme thanked Chinese government for creating this annual scholarship program, encouraging the beneficiaries to make use of the awards as an inspiration and an opportunity to transform their lives.
The principal also highlighted the quality of Confucius Institute training at UEM and the close interaction between the university and the Chinese business community in Mozambique, which ensured a high rate of employability of the graduates.
“That’s why we want to encourage the institute to continue to develop its activities in the field of disseminating Chinese culture and language, focusing on the diversification of its training offer,” said Guilherme.
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They 12 students awarded won the scholarship for their excellent performance in learning Chinese language and culture, which has been an undergraduate course of UEM for years.
Chinese ambassador Wang Hejun encouraged young Mozambicans to study hard, to actively participate in their country’s development and to become a key role for promoting China-Mozambique friendship and their pragmatic cooperation from generation to generation.
Wang used several sets of data in his speech to provide a representation of China’s breakthroughs and landmark achievements in the past decade.
Augusta Vilanculos, a scholarship winner who was in her sophomore year at the UEM, told Xinhua that the scholarship proved that she was “on a good path”. “It encourages me to keep learning Chinese mandarin and make other achievements in the future,” she said.
