RHODES – The University of the Aegean received an award from China’s Center for Language Center and Education (CLEC) on the island of Rhodes on Tuesday for its model distance-learning program for the Chinese language.

Attending the event was People’s Republic of China Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan and Chinese ministers as well as high-level government officials, who arrived in Rhodes on Monday night and left on a China Airlines flight on Tuesday.

On the Greek side, officials included New Democracy and SYRIZA MPs of the Dodecanese Islands Vassilis Ypsilantis and Dimitris Gakis, respectively, South Aegean Region Director Giorgos Hatzimarkos, Rhodes Mayor Antonis Kabourakis, University of the Aegean leaders and nearly the entire faculty staff, local government officials, and security forces representatives on the island.

University Dean and Professor Chryssi Vitsilaki, who was one of the speakers, said that enrolled in the program to learn Chinese are over 3,000 people throughout Greece.