The new association is formed by URV students and alumni and promotes knowledge of Chinese culture and language. It is supported by the Lifelong Learning Centre of the URV Foundation and the Centre for Hispanic Studies and one of the first activities to take place will be an introductory course in Chinese

On 11 January, the president of the Association, Zhu Rongrong, the director of the Hispanic Studies Centre, Esther Forgas, and the director of the Lifelong Learning Centre of the URV Foundation, Charo Romano, met to sign a a collaboration agreement at the URV’s Department of Romance languages at the Campus Catalunya. The delegate of the Vice-Rector for Communication, Noemí Rabassa was also present at the event.

The Chinese Students and Researchers Association of Tarragona is mainly made up of students and alumni of Spanish courses that the URV has offered at Chinese universities, although it also has a smaller number of students from Tarragona.

The URV’s Centre for Hispanic Studies teaches Hispanic culture and Spanish as a second language and the Lifelong Learning Centre of the URV Foundation is responsible for managing the Centre for Hispanic Studies’s training programs. The two entities will work alongside the Association to provide the means and resources to help improve the career prospects of Chinese alumni and to foster understanding of both languages and cultures.

The entities will work together to ensure cultural integration and to increases Chinese students’ chances of gaining employment. They will also collaborate in the organisation and dissemination of conferences, seminars and activities of mutual interest to the two cultures and languages.

Basic Chinese Course in February

A Basic Course in Chinese will be available for members of the university community and the general public who have no previous knowledge of the language. It will run from February to May and is aimed at staff in companies that have international relations with Chinese companies, people with a particular interest in working or travelling in China and people with a general interest in Chinese culture.

Classes will be held twice a week at the URV’s Campus Catalunya and will introduce students to the language’s rules with the objective of challenging the widely-held belief that Chinese is a difficult language to learn.

The language will be taught step by step in accordance with the international curriculum for teaching Chinese, and will have a highly practical focus on encouraging conversational skills. The Intermediate Course 2 and the Basic Course 3 in Chinese are already being taught during the current academic year.