Frankfurt University suspends cooperation with Confucius Institute

Frankfurt’s Goethe University has not extended its cooperation agreement with the Frankfurt Confucius Institute. According to the university, cooperation with the institution is to be continued on an “occasion-related” basis. The contract, which has been in place since 2008, was thus not extended at the end of February. In the future, for example, Chinese language courses for members or departments of the university are conceivable. The university said the re-evaluation of the cooperation with the Confucius Institute was preceded by a review by an independent expert commission. The cooperation had been “evaluated positively.” There had been “no recognizable influence of Chinese authorities on research and teaching at Goethe University.”