The Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia: a new direction in the internationalisation of African higher education?

In the past decade, China has intensified its engagement in the internationalisation of higher education in Africa via the establishment of Confucius Institutes. The aim of this chapter is to shed light on the differences between Chinese support for higher education and ‘traditional’ partnerships, and what the implications of these differences are for the chances of producing locally relevant knowledge in Africa. This is done through a case study of the newly established Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia. This case enables us to further our understanding of how the Confucius Institute operates, how it is governed and, more importantly, how it affects the University of Zambia’s room for manoeuvre in determining (and funding) its own vision and strategy.