State Department Revises Policy on Confucius Institutes

From http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/largely-reversing-itself-state-dept-revises-policy-on-confucius-institutes/43612

Largely Reversing Itself, State Dept. Revises Policy on Confucius Institutes
May 25, 2012

Seeking to quell controversy on campuses and in China, the U.S. Department of State has reissued a policy directive on Confucius Institutes, largely reversing guidance it put out last week. The department had reaped criticism and confusion after it said that all Chinese schoolteachers sponsored by the university-based language and cultural centers would have to leave the United States by the end of June because of visa problems, a move that Chinese officials said would “harm” Sino-American exchanges.

The original directive, first reported in The Chronicle, also stated that the institutes would have to be associated with university foreign-language departments or gain separate accreditation. The revised memorandum states that university accreditation is sufficient and that the precollege teachers will not have to leave the country. It asks host universities to contact the State Department with information about their instructors and says that transition time will be provided to find appropriate groups to sponsor teacher visas.

Read related articles at http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/us-clampdown-on-visas-1445995.html , http://chronicle.com/article/US-Hopes-to-Fix-Visa/132017 , and http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/confucius-institutes-need-middle-way/29657