July 1-2, “A Symposium on the Administration of Short-term Programs for Overseas Study in China—a Case of Homestay/Home-visit sponsored by the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban)” was held in Tianjin University with a view to promoting the sharing of homestay/home-visit experiences among colleges and universities, to guaranteeing the quality of homestay and to promoting the construction of related standards for homestay. More than 70 people from 42 Chinese partners of the Confucius Institute, including Fudan University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Hubei University, Jiangsu University etc, attended this symposium. Yuan Li, Director of the Scholarship and Examination Office, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) proposed at the meeting an important guiding policy and philosophy for the enrollment and cultivation of students sponsored by scholarships of the Confucius Institute. He declared the founding of 424 League and reached an agreement with 42 Chinese partners of the Confucius Institutes on the Four-week Study Program for scholarship-sponsored students in the Confucius Institute. The Language and Culture Center at JSU managed to become one of the 42 league members.

The symposium had three main thematic topics: sharing of homestay experience, negotiation on the construction of related standards for homestay, and design of the short-term programs for overseas study in China. At the opening ceremony, Director Yuan Li expounded and put forward some specific requirements on the admissions reform, admissions interview, enrollment quota, enrollment quality, the efficiency-priority principle for the enrollment, the implementation of a cultivation system, the enrollment, cultivation and homestay issues of the 4-week short-term programs of the Confucius Institute in the year of 2016.    Then Chen Hongjun, Dean of the School of International Education, Dalian University of Technology, Ding Xuezhong, Deputy Dean of the College of International Cooperative Education, Harbin Engineering University, and Chen Zhihua, Dean of the School of International Education, Tianjin University respectively introduced their approaches to and shared their experiences of administering homestay students of the short-term programs for overseas study in China. Besides, Su Bo, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute of Tianjin University at Nice, France gave a presentation titled “A report on the operation and administration of homestay system in France”. Experts shared their experiences of great reference significance of the backdrop of short-term homestay programs for overseas study in China, the selection of a homestay family, the building of a homestay family database, boarding expenses, and the solution of related problems. After the lecture, Deputy Dean Du Xiuping of the School of International Education, Tianjin University submitted on behalf of the organizing committee of the symposium the Standards for Short-term Homestay Programs for Overseas Study in China for discussion and perfection. The standards to be fixed mainly include the following items: the establishment of an exclusive management agency, the standards for homestay family and boarding, the procedures of homestay operation and management (application for a homestay family qualification, application for a boarder qualification, institution review and distribution, boarding registration, contract signing and termination, fee settlement etc), emergency settlement, boarding quality feedback, information processing etc. During the discussion at the symposium on the design of short-term programs for overseas study in China, Deputy Director Qiao Fang of the Language and Culture Center, Jiangsu University delivered a speech in which she introduced the current situation of the Center's short-term homestay programs for overseas study in China, elaborated on the Center’s conception and designing of short-term homestay programs for overseas study in China in view of Zhenjiang’s local culture, the regional culture in Jiangsu and the strong disciplines and feature specialties of Jiangsu University. Last but not least, she sincerely invited representatives of other colleges and universities to come and experience the short-term programs in the romantic Jiangsu city of Zhenjiang.