Makassar, South Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Hasanuddin University (Unhas) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and Nanchang University in China are to cooperate in establishing the first-ever Mandarin Language Center (MLC) in East Indonesia.

"The Mandarin Language Center in East Indonesian region will be one of six such centers in Indonesia under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Indonesian National Education Ministry and the Hanban Confucian Institute Headquarters," Unhas Rector Idrus Paturusi said here on Tuesday.

Hanban is the executive body of the Chinese Language Council International, a non-governmental and non-profit organization affiliated to the Ministry of Education of China.

He said that according to the agreement between Unhas and Nanchang University, Hanban would provide three Mandarin teachers from China and and annual funds for the MLC, located at Sunu street in Makassar city.

Meanwhile, MLC director from Unhas, Burhanuddin Arafah on the occasion said that in the preliminary stage there would be three classes with 30 to 35 students each.

"The Mandarin language has actually been a subject at Unhas faculty of letters since 2003 and will continue to be developed in 2011," Burhanuddin said.

The six Mandarin Language centers in Indonesia are located at Malang University in East Java, Tanjungpura University in West Kalimantan, Al-Azhar University in Jakarta, Maranatha Christian University in West Java, Surabaya State University in East Java, and Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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