| The concept of "soft power",introduced by Joseph Nye,has received worldwide attention and has become a new indicator of a country’s international influence.the rapid rise of China as a world power in the 21 st century has brought new international responsibilities,and it is particularly important to create a more favorable external development environment.As a country rich in cultural resources,China has become an important means of exporting its "soft power" to the outside world by using culture as a carrier,the most notable result of which is the creation of the Confucius Institute brand.Since its establishment,Confucius Institutes have received a lot of attention from scholars,who have mainly introduced the overall layout and development of Confucius Institutes,or conducted case studies on Confucius Institutes in one or several countries from the perspective of economic and political diplomacy,to explore the actual impact of Confucius Institutes in the local context,and also found that there are certain challenges in the actual operation of Confucius Institutes.Meanwhile,most of the current studies focus on Europe,North America,and Southeast Asia,and there are fewer case studies on Confucius Institutes in other regions.This study takes the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana in Africa as a case study,and examines the operation of the Confucius Institute through the experiences of front-line staff,so as to provide new empirical materials for understanding the effectiveness of the Confucius Institute and the dilemmas it faces in the actual operation,and to provide new thinking for the sustainable development of the Confucius Institute in the future.The study found that the Confucius Institutes at the University of Botswana are not only effective,but also face difficulties.This study finds that the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana has a history of 13 years since its establishment in 2009.After the initial glorious period,it has gradually fallen into a difficult situation,and the problem of poor teaching quality due to insufficient teachers is one of the main reasons for its development.More importantly,the Confucius Institute lacks a set of systematic planning and operation mechanism for its own development and integration into the local community.Due to the lack of distinctive positioning,the future development direction of the Confucius Institute is not clear enough,and the relationship between the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Department of the University is a kind of contradictory cooperation,and there is an implied competition mentality at the same time.In fact,the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Department of the University have rich complementary resources,and the cooperation between them can be an effective shortcut to the localization of the Confucius Institute.The lack of system and the imperfect supervision mechanism also lead to the development of the Confucius Institute being often influenced by individual managers,which is the main reason for the ups and downs of the development of the Confucius Institute.How to establish a perfect supervisory mechanism should be a key issue to be considered in the future. |
