Hanban - the Confucius Institute headquarters in China - funded the Auckland branch to the tune of $992,571 in 2017. Last year, the university's Model Confucius Institute - the first in Australasia - moved to Auckland heritage building Pembridge House, with Hanban funding the costs of the building's revamp. The opening of the new Fudan-University of Auckland Centre for Chinese Studies in Oceania coincided with the launch of the Model Confucius Institute. The University of Auckland and Hanban agreed to open the model institute, and simultaneously undertook to establish the Fudan-University of Auckland Centre in 2014. The Confucius Institute advisory board met in Auckland on multiple occasions, and in Shanghai, to work on the expansion and promotion of the institute and its goals.

Source: Stuff February 25, 2019 19:52 UTC