File photo: a girl practices Chinese calligraphy at Confucius Institute in Morocco. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Confucius Institute Headquarters recently replied to the Education Department of Shandong Province and officially approved of cooperation between Shandong Normal University and the University of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and the establishment of a Confucius Institute at the University of Jeddah, which would be the first Confucius Institute in Saudi Arabia.

The University of Jeddah, founded in 2014, is a public university located in the city of Jeddah, near the Red Sea. It has eight campuses, 18 departments, more than 80 majors, over 30,000 students, and more than 1,300 faculty and staff.

The university is committed to creating and maintaining an excellent academic and research environment.

The Confucius Institute will help the university with its Chinese language program, organize cultural exchange activities, and contribute to cultural cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia.

The Confucius Institute program was first launched in 2004. Confucius Institutes/Classrooms, named for the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, are non-profit public institutions aiming to promote Chinese language and culture around the world.

Confucius Institutes/Classrooms adopt flexible teaching patterns and adapt to local conditions in the teaching of the Chinese language and in the promotion of Chinese culture in primary schools, secondary schools, communities, and enterprises overseas.

Shandong province has attached great importance to the construction of Confucius Institutes and has been working to build more and better institutes in a bid to promote international Chinese education and cultural exchange.

The province has set up a total of 28 Confucius Institutes and 33 Confucius Classrooms in 20 countries.