Delegates from Alliance Francaise (AF), including Delegate General Mr. Jean-Luc Tissier, President Nicolas Peroy of AF-Xi’an and his Chinese counterpart Ms. Liu Li, accompanied by Yang Jianwei, director of the International Exchange Office of Henan
Foreign Affairs Department,visited NCWU on Sep 11. Vice president Xie Wei and some faculty members gave them a warm
reception, and held a talk with them on Huayuan campus.
President Xie briefly introduced NCWU, especially its recent achievements in international exchange and cooperation, and expressed
his hope that this visit would be an opportunity to enhance mutual understanding and to promote cooperation in spreading French
language and culture.
Mr. Tissier outlined the history of Alliance Francaise, and commended NCWU for its bid to set up an AF branch in Zhengzhou. He also
applauded President Xie’s vision that the combined strengths via cooperation between NCWU and AF would greatly boost French
language training and cultural promotion. Yang Zhiwei said that the provincial government attached great attention to international
cooperation and French language education, speaking highly of this cooperation prospect.
The two sides exchanged notes and reached preliminary agreement on detailed topics: AF application procedures, organization
management, organization structure, and cooperation mode. After the talk, Tissier visited the labs that NCWU would use as
prospective AF learning space.
Founded in 1883, l’Alliance Francaise is a nonprofit organization reputed for its exceptional public service. Traditionally, its honorary
chairmanship has been assumed by successive French presidents. To date, AF has growing presence in 135 countries and areas,
pioneering French language teaching and cultural exchange. It has set up 13 branches in mainland China, regrettably none of them in
Henan Province.