University abandons plans for Confucius Institute

Stuttgart Media University in Germany has scuttled plans to establish a Confucius Institute due to stated concerns over finances, the Stuttgarter Zeitung reported (in German). The university had signed a contract to found a Confucius Institute with Hanban, the Chinese government entity that oversees and funds the overseas institutes for Chinese language and culture study, in August 2014, reports Inside Higher Ed.

A spokesperson for Stuttgart Media University told Inside Higher Ed that plans to establish a Confucius Institute together with Hohenheim University "will not be realised at the moment. After various discussions with representatives of politics and economy we did not succeed in finding the necessary support for this project."

The Students for a Free Tibet organisation issued a press release earlier this month celebrating the development as a win for academic freedom and democratic values. The group reports that it has sent nearly 300 letters to senior university officials in 30 countries urging them to close the controversial Confucius Institutes, which have been criticised on the grounds that the universities that host them cede control over teaching to the Chinese government.
Full report on the Inside Higher Ed site