Feature: Entrepreneurs mull founding int'l Chinese school in Italy's Milan

MILAN, Italy, July 14 - Within two or three years, Italy's Milan could be equipped with aninternational Chinese school, if the important project created by a group of Chinese and Italian entrepreneurs will become true. The school has been conceived on an optioned area of around 10,000 square meters in Milan's eastern hinterland, just 20 minutes away from the city center by car. The area isright next to a large sports complex that could be easily used by the expected at least 600 students enrolled in the school. Angelo Ou, a Milan-based entrepreneur in the logistics sector, is among the four promotersof the project, along with Luigi Sun, like Ou also of Chinese origin, and two Italians.

An international consulting institute and some banking firms are also expected to back theproject, which being in the initial phase is open to other investors, Ou told Xinhua.

"We have presented the project to the Chinese consulate in Milan and are aiming atwinning the support of the Italian education ministry as well as of the Chinesegovernment," he said. "Many Chinese living in Milan choose to send their newborn babies back to China for a fewyears to give them the possibility to learn Mandarin. But when these children are broughtback to Italy, they have to face significant integration difficulties," he pointed out whenexplaining how the idea of creating such a school came into being. Aroused from the need to allow Chinese children born in Italy to learn their language oforigin, the project was then extended to envisage a real international school, like the othersalready present in the American, the Japanese or the German areas.

The Milano International Chinese School is planned to cover the study period from thekindergarten to high school, and will be recognized as equivalent to Italian schools, Ouexplained to Xinhua. "Our objective is to build an institute which will be attended by both Chinese and Italianchildren, "who will be provided with effective skills to successfully enroll university ordirectly access the labor market, Ou went on saying.

Like in the other international schools, English will be the base language spoken in thecourses, followed by Chinese, which will be obviously taught by mother tongue teachers, and ast but not least Italian. Ou added that promoters would also like to develop a system of scholarships, both publicand private, to help those meritorious students who lack financial means.

Teaching of Chinese culture in the Milano International Chinese School is hopefully to playits role in forming generations of citizens able to act as a bridge between the two countries,an enormous advantage in today's globalized economy and a big step towards deeperintegration, he highlighted.