Recently, President Duan Peng led a delegation to Italy, Tunisia and Morocco. Focusing on educational cooperation and cultural exchanges, the visit deepened BLCU’s practical cooperation with European and Arab countries, made historic breakthroughs in cooperation with international organizations of the Islamic world, and supported China’s inter-civilization dialogue and global educational exchange strategy.
In Italy, the delegation visited the University of Bergamo and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. At the University of Bergamo, President Duan Peng held in-depth talks with President Sergio Cavalieri. He introduced BLCU’s achievements including the construction of the Hainan and Xiong’an campuses, “language + specialized subjects” interdisciplinary programs, and advances in AI large language models. He noted the two universities’ highly complementary disciplinary strengths and expressed willingness to jointly develop distinctive talent training models and conduct academic and research cooperation. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation and a student exchange agreement, establishing a new platform for China-Italy educational exchanges.
At Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Presidents Duan Peng and Elena Beccalli discussed further cooperation. Duan noted its Confucius Institute (one of BLCU’s 29) is a key hub for China-Italy sinological exchanges, and BLCU will offer diverse study paths via multi-campus advantages. Beccalli affirmed the fruitful cooperation and stated that the university will send students to BLCU’s Beijing and Hainan campuses in 2026, launching new multi-campus collaboration.
In Tunisia, the delegation held talks with the University of Carthage and signed a cooperation memorandum covering study-in-China programs, academic exchanges and joint research. It also communicated with teachers and students at the university’s Higher Institute of Languages and Confucius Institute.
During the visit, President Duan Peng and the delegation also met with Hichem Messaoudi, Dean of the Higher Institute of Languages, and were warmly received by BLCU alumni Professors Feryal and Khalid.
A key achievement of the visit was cooperation with three major international organizations. President Duan Peng held in-depth talks with ISESCO Director-General Dr. Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik and reached multiple cooperation deals. ISESCO will send 20 full-scholarship students to BLCU, launch a joint professorship, and add Chinese to its AI language programs. Furthermore, the Director-General will attend the Dunhuang World Sinologists Conference and visit BLCU. Meanwhile, BLCU set up a cooperation mechanism with ALESCO and agreed on audio-visual talent training with ASBU.
During the visit, President Duan Peng paid courtesy calls on the Chinese Embassies in Tunisia and Morocco. The embassies commended BLCU’s international exchanges, and BLCU pledged full support for the embassies’ work in serving China’s diplomatic agenda.
The visit achieved fruitful results. Moving forward, BLCU will uphold its motto, leverage its language education strengths, expand international cooperation, and contribute to exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.
（Edited by Xu Tianqi Fu Dongyu）
