Learning advantage

Romain Tournier (left) and Jean-Francois Pouliquen, co-founders of the TailorMade Chinese Center. [Zhang Wei/ China Daily]

"We expect to dispatch 2,000 teachers and 3,000 volunteers from China, train 10,000 Chinese teachers and 10,000 local teachers, and release revised Standards for Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages next year," she said.

"A better benefits package will be offered to teachers from China. Tentative efforts will be made to establish a team of full-time directors and teachers for Confucius Institutes."

Funding for the institutes has reached more than $160 million (108 million euros) and about half of the contributions come from overseas, the headquarters said in a report, with the average Confucius Institute receiving $500,000 and a Confucius Classroom getting $60,000.

"This is a golden time for Chinese international communication," says Zhu Yongsheng, dean of the international cultural exchange school at Shanghai-based Fudan University.

"The whole world is doing business with China. No matter whether Westerners like you or not, they all need to make deals with you. If they don't understand Chinese language and culture, it is hard for them to form deep relations with us."

Zhu's school offers Chinese courses from one month to two years. Most of its longer-term degree students come from Japan, South Korea, Africa and Southeast Asian countries. But a majority of the students in its short-term courses come from Europe and the United States instead. The school charges students about 10,000 yuan (1,040 euros) each for a year's training including accommodation. Those who do well can also get scholarships.

"There has not been an obvious growth in the number of our students because China is establishing more Confucius Institutes outside of the country," Zhu says.

"Students can learn authentic Chinese in their home countries."

But William Qiu, director of the elite learning center of the New Oriental education group in Shanghai, says there is still enormous potential at home.

William Qiu, director of the Shanghai elite learning center of the New Oriental education group. [Provided to China Daily]

"There's been a marked increase in the number of parents and students pushing to learn Mandarin because of China's growing influence in the global economy," says Qiu, 34.

"With China's economy expected to grow by 8 percent this year, compared with a flat global economy, learning Chinese has rapidly begun to look like a clever investment," Qiu says. His company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is considered the largest English-language training group in China, with schools in 40 cities nationwide.

Qiu says his group is expanding its Chinese-language offerings to tap the growing market, with plans to target the business community in Shanghai.

"We set up an elite Chinese teaching center in 2010 and have taught 100 foreigners since then. Most of them head companies," Qiu says.

His group also offers study tours to China. A group of students from the US are scheduled to arrive in China in August and they will travel around the country. During their trip, the students will be taught some Chinese.

But the industry is not without its problems, he says.