On 22 October 2015, the Confucius Institute (Classrooms) Annual Conference was held in London, UK. The Confucius Institute for Business London (CIBL) is partnered with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Tsinghua University (THU), and because of this high level representatives from both universities took part in the conference.
Chinese President XI Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the conference and because of the link created by CIBL, which was awarded Confucius Institute of the year in 2014, LSE Director Prof. Craig Calhoun, LSE Pro-director Prof. Paul Kelly and THU Chancellor Prof. Xu Chen were able to meet with the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the same afternoon, Prof. Craig Calhoun chaired a session of the University Presidents’ Forum. CIBL UK director, Nick Byrne, also chaired a session at the Confucius Institute Directors’ forum and presented the outcome of the forum at the Confucius Institute Conference’s closing ceremony. The conference was a great success and received positive coverage in the Chinese media.