Confucius Institute · What the team said

Team survey · September and October 2026

Six people,
six answers

We asked the team to describe the institute in one sentence. Everyone was confident, and nobody said the same thing.

Answers

Xinxin, Cathérine and Fenmei in September. Wenjun, Tao and Manon in October. Six people is a direction, not proof. The 45 students pointed the same way.

The same question, six times

Describe the institute to a stranger

Xinxin

"The institute to learn Chinese language and culture built by both University of Zuyd and DUFE."

Answers: who stands behind it

Cathérine

"A Chinese language institute that offers courses, cultural events and workshops for individuals, schools and business."

Answers: what is on offer

Fenmei

"The best course to learn useful Mandarin for every level."

Answers: what you get out of it

Wenjun

"We are an organization jointly established by a Chinese university and a Dutch university to promote Chinese language education and cultural exchange."

Answers: who stands behind it

Tao

"CIM is the right place if you want to learn Chinese language and culture."

Answers: where to go

Manon

"A community where you can take Chinese courses, attend cultural events and practice a lot of speaking with other students."

Answers: who you meet

All six can explain the institute in one sentence, and each makes a different argument. Yet when we offered one ready-made line, five of the six picked the same: "the place where you truly understand Chinese language and culture." The story is there. Nobody tells it in their own words yet, and the student survey showed the same.

The strongest agreement in the survey

"Our teachers are our strongest selling point, and right now we do not show that."

Nobody disagreed, not in September and not in October. This is where the Star Teacher idea comes from. It was not invented for the pilot, it was already in the room.

What else came out

Three findings

Nobody picked a new nameFive of the six chose Confucius Institute Maastricht, the sixth Confucius Institute Netherlands. Manon does see a case for a new name: it would show that the two locations belong together. She also warns it could confuse current students all over again.

Warm or academic: not settledThe first three put approachability first. Of the next three, two put academic authority first and one Chinese culture. Academic authority is the only value everyone ranks in their top two. The international network comes last for all six.

The confusion is invisible from insideFive of the six find the difference between CIM and CLC perfectly clear. Yet ask them where they work, and the answers run from "the Confucius Institute" to "Chinese Language Center Rotterdam".

Where this went

The naming question that came out of this survey is now worked out properly, with the student answers next to it. That document, not this one, is what the board decides on.

The three routes What 45 students told us →