Sebille, the "Pioneer" in Chinese Language Teaching

The Higher Institute of Languages at the University of Carthage, established in 1964, is a public university in Tunisia qualified to launch bachelor and master programs in the Chinese language. It was formerly known as the Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages and was renamed to its current name in 1998. In 1977, the Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages offered a four-year bachelor program in Chinese language, enrolled six local students and invited an international Chinese language teacher from China, thus initiating Chinese language teaching in Tunisia.

On April 28, 2006, a contestant of the Tunis area of "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students makes her final preparation in the classroom of the Chinese Language Department of the Higher Institute of Languages in Tunisia. Photo by Liu Shun, reporter of the Xinhua News Agency

Chinese language education in Tunisia is closely related to the efforts of Lotfi Sebille, the first local Chinese language teacher at the Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages.

In 1976, Sebille was awarded a scholarship to study at then Beijing Language Institute in China. Four years later, he obtained a bachelor's degree in Chinese Linguistics. During his study in China, Sebille traveled extensively in Beijing and visited cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, and Guilin. The experience overseas set his determination to establish a Chinese language major at Tunisian universities and to offer Chinese courses at Tunisian high schools.

In 1980, Sebille left Beijing after graduation and went to France to pursue a doctoral degree in Chinese. In 1984, he became the first PhD in Chinese language in Tunisia. After graduation, he was employed by a French IT company to develop Chinese character input technology, etc. In 1988, he returned to Tunisia and taught Chinese at the Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages. In 1992, he was appointed as the head of the Language Department of the Institute.

On April 22, 2008, at the 7th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students held at the Higher Institute of Languages in Tunisia, students cheer for the contestants for the local round. Photo by Liu Shun, reporter of the Xinhua News Agency

Promoted by Sebille and relevant parties, the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education approved to upgrade Chinese from an elective course in universities to an undergraduate major in 1998. In 2003, the Tunisian Ministry of Education, which was responsible for primary and secondary school affairs, approved to introduce Chinese courses in some high schools as the third optional foreign language and selected excellent Chinese language graduates from Tunisian universities to teach in high schools.