News

The Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations returned once again this February, marking the arrival of the Year of the Horse. On Tuesday 10 February 2026, the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University hosted its annual festivities, welcoming over 150 OU staff and postgraduate students to an afternoon of enjoyable festivities. For the first time, the event was live streamed for people who were unable to make it in-person to join online, attracting over 100 virtual attendees as well.

Pupils from Brooklands Primary School in Milton Keynes enjoyed a vibrant introduction to Chinese New Year traditions during a special workshop delivered by the Online Confucius Institute. The session was led by Andy Xu, Chinese Director of the Online Confucius Institute, who guided the children through fun activities exploring the cultural significance of the festival.

On September 25, 2025, the 5th "CI Moments Global Short Video Collection Event" Global Short Video Competition took place. Among 616 entries submitted by 143 Confucius Institutes from 84 countries around the world, the entry from The Open University's Online Confucius Institute stood out, winning second prize for the short film Blossoming Toward the Sun.

From September 19 to 21, 2025, the 21st ChinaCALL Conference on was successfully held at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The conference was hosted by Computer-Assisted Language Learning Association, China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese (ChinaCALL), organised by Institute of Online Education, Artificial Intelligence and Human Languages Lab, at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), and College of Foreign Languages at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA). The Online Confucius Institute at the Open University (UK) served as a key co-organiser, actively participating throughout and promoting academic exchange. 

On 19th-20th June 2025, The Open University in Belfast in collaboration with Northern Ireland Libraries and the OU Online Confucius Institute have successfully run a two-day Chinese language taster event at Ormeau Library in Belfast. Taught by OU Languages Staff Tutor Ximena Arias-Manzano, local residents enjoyed interactive and fun activities as an introduction to Mandarin Chinese such as daily greetings, basic vocabulary, learning the tones of Mandarin as well as asking and giving their names. 

Another successful collaboration between OU Online Confucius Institute and Lancaster University Confucius Institute  On Friday 25th April 2025, the OU Online Confucius Institute and Lancaster University Confucius Institute co-organised another successful hybrid teacher training day for teachers of Chinese as a Foreign Language, as well as teachers of other languages. The theme of this year’s event was Teaching Chinese Language and Cultures in the AI Era and we were delighted to welcome over 100 delegates on the day with 30 attending in person in Lancaster and 76 joining online from a range of countries across mainland Europe, China, USA, and Egypt. The day comprised of 6 keynote speakers and 5 lightning talks.

For students studying Chinese looking for study abroad experiences in China this summer, we have details below of two funded summer programmes for 2025. Eligibility criteria applies, please see below for further information how to apply to each programme. Please note these programmes are not affiliated with the OU Online Confucius Institute.

The Virtual Exchange (VE) China Hub, an initiative jointly led by the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University with four other institutions, is pleased to announce three events taking place in 2025 that will further strengthen international collaboration in the fields of digital education. These events provide opportunities for academic exchange, professional networking and innovation in virtual exchange practices. Click the subject title to find out about the upcoming events.

Happy New Year!

The coming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on 29 January 2025, is ‘the Year of the Snake’ (蛇年 shé nián). To celebrate, on Tuesday 28^th January, the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University hosted their annual Chinese Lunar New Year Celebrations for OU staff and postgraduate students. Building on the success of the previous 2 years, staff were invited to join in the festive and fun celebrations. This year, attendees were able to participate in traditional Chinese ink painting with professional  Peter Cavaciuti; and water colour painting with the Chinese teacher DING Yufan, try their hand at ink calligraphy, unwind with some Tai Chi/Qigong classes by expert instructor YU Feixia  and relax to live Chinese flute performances by well-known musician GUO Yue. We also had a range of traditional Chinese snacks, hot spring rolls and refreshments for all to enjoy.  

A collaboration between The Online Confucius Institute at The Open University (OCI) and the National Extension College (NEC) has enabled absolute beginners in Mandarin Chinese to benefit from a three-part programme of Chinese taster sessions between October and November 2024. Open to NEC and OU students, 32 attendees benefited from the series of online sessions.