Confucius Institutes are non-profit public educational institutions that aim to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. Worldwide there are currently more than five hundred Confucius Institutes and more than a thousand Confucius classrooms.
The Confucius Institute at Comenius University was set up in September 2014, under the Agreement between Confucius Institute Headquarters of China and Comenius University of Slovakia on the Establishment of Confucius Institute, which was signed on 2nd September 2014 by Prof. Karol Mičieta, PhD., the then Rector of Comenius University, and Ms. Xu Lin, the Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters and General Director of Hanban (Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language). The Institute was formally opened on 12th October 2015 in collaboration with the Chinese partner, Shanghai University of International Business and Economy (SUIBE). The Confucius Institute at Comenius University is the 150th institution of its kind in Europe and as one of nearly four hundred fifty Confucius institutes worldwide.