Institute of African Studies of Zhejiang Normal University. [Photo/Zhejiang Daily]
Jinhua in East China's Zhejiang province has been leading China-Africa education cooperation for more than 30 years with the help of colleges and universities, according to local media outlets.
Zhejiang Normal University began to recruit short-term international students in China in the 1980s.
To date, the university has trained more than 8,000 African students in the Chinese language, international education in Chinese, business administration, comparative education, software engineering, mechanical design and manufacturing and automation.
Abdi Hodan Osman, a Somali student in the class of 2011, is currently deputy director of the African Film and Television Research Center of the African Research Institute of Zhejiang Normal University. She is also an advisor to the President of Somalia and regularly provides policy advice for cooperation in related fields between the two countries. The documentary I Came from Africa co-produced by her colleagues was selected for the Zanzibar International Film Festival and Lusaka International Film Festival.
The film is the first domestic documentary co-produced by Chinese and African directors. It tells the stories of 19 Africans living in Yiwu in terms of education, marriage, business, public welfare, food, and art.
The school has also established China's first comprehensive African research institute, the first China-Africa International Business School, the first African museum and the first African translation hall. The China-Africa Think Tank Forum, founded by the school in 2011, has been officially incorporated into the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. The Institute of African Studies has become an "important research and consulting base in the field of African studies in China".
