18 December 2014

New initiative to strengthen China Studies in the Nordic countries

The China Studies subject groups at the universities of Stockholm, Århus, Oslo, and at the Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies at University of Copenhagen have joined to establish a Nordic Consortium of China Studies (NCCS) that aims at improving the strategic, organizational, administrative, and communication platforms of China Studies at the universities. The Consortium has obtained financial support for the venture from ERASMUS+.

The Consortium emerged out of existing joint efforts to build a double degree MA program in China Studies with Zhejiang University. The program is now running with its second batch of Nordic students. The Consortium will promote, monitor, and coordinate this program. It will also increase the synergies between the groups, promote inter-Nordic cooperation in teaching and research, deliberate on a possible Nordic Center for China Studies at Zhejiang University and support a Nordic Association of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language with a special focus on the European Qualification framework and the integration of language teaching with content courses. The initial duration of the Consortium is two years, but it aims at becoming sustainable to strengthen the teaching of China Studies at the universities and with partners in China.

18.12.2014
Jørgen Delman, Professor, China Studies & Mikkel Bunkenborg, Assistant Professor, China Studies