Attendees pose for a photo at yesterday’s MOU signing ceremony between Shenzhen University (SZU) and Institut Francais de Pekin (French Institute of Beijing) held at SZU’s Yuehai campus. Wang Haolan

Shenzhen University (SZU) and Institut Francais de Pekin (French Institute of Beijing) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly promote cultural and educational exchanges between China and France at a ceremony held at the university’s Yuehai campus in Nanshan District yesterday.

The MOU was signed between SZU president Li Qingquan and Siv-Leng Chhuor, consul general of France in Guangzhou. The university will join hands with the institute to improve the teaching quality of its French major and introduce more knowledge on French culture to its students, teachers and other Shenzhen citizens.

The signing ceremony also mapped out the future plan of Alliance Francaise Shenzhen, the local branch of Alliance Francaise, which is an international organization for the promotion of French language and culture established in Paris in 1883.

The Chinese branch of Alliance Francaise is affiliated to the French Institute of Beijing and has opened 15 centers in nine cities so far, including Macao, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Hong Kong. The Shenzhen center will host language training and cultural exchange activities and will serve as a venue for DELF French language proficiency tests at different levels, according to Sandra Vivier, director of Alliance Francaise Shenzhen.

“The collaboration between SZU and Alliance Francaise can greatly enhance the cultural exchange between China and France and facilitate our French major students’ overseas studies in the future,” said the SZU president at the ceremony.

“I once participated in the establishment of Alliance Francaise Wuhan more than a dozen years ago and sent my kid to the center to take the first French class. I have deep personal connection with the organization and all the best for Alliance Francaise Shenzhen,” said Li.

Chhuor said that the collaboration promotes the exchanges between Chinese and French universities and students. “We hoped that Alliance Francaise Shenzhen can witness further cooperation between China and France in talent cultivation, academic research, and cultural and art exchange,” she said.

“It took four years for us and Alliance Francaise to reach a consensus in cooperating,” said Zhang Xueji, vice president of SZU. “France is home to a number of top universities and boasts top subjects. Alliance Francaise can give us great opportunities to learn from French universities and improve ourselves from their experience.”

A total of 25 SZU students participated in the Plume d’Or 2021 international French language contest and three of them entered the contest’s top 100. An awards ceremony was held yesterday on the sidelines of the signing event to commend their outstanding performance.

The university officially launched its French program at its School of Foreign Languages in 2012 and has collaborated with Audencia Business School in Nantes, France, to establish Shenzhen Audencia Business School in 2016.

The French Institute of Beijing was jointly established by China and France in November 2002 to promote French culture in China.