The Confucius Institute of University of Malaya in Malaysia will assign two teachers to the National Defense University of Malaysia (NDUM) next week to offer students there opportunities to study Mandarin as well as Chinese culture and history.

Raduan Che Rose, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs) of NDUM, told reporters here on Monday that over 100 students had enrolled themselves in the Chinese courses that would be run in four sessions.

According to Raduan, since its inception, the NDUM had made it compulsory for students to study a foreign language to add value to them.

"I hope that the collaboration between the Confucius Institute and NDUM can be expanded to academic research activities and students exchange programs. China is economically strong, and learning Mandarin will keep the long-lasting relations between Malaysia and China," said Raduan.

Raduan revealed that in near future, the NDUM will set up the faculty of languages that teaches not only Chinese, but also Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, French and Russian languages.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2010)