On November 19 2023 at 9:00 a.m. (November 18 at 8:00 p.m., Ecuador Time), the International College's faculty and nearly 70 students from the Peninsula State University of San Elena, Ecuador (UPSE University) gathered in the cloud to begin their Chinese learning journey together, marking the official start of the online Chinese course program of the two universities.

After some opening remarks by Xavier Almeida, Dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education at UPSE University in Ecuador, the course officially began. Many heartfelt Chinese expressions of affection, such as "Nice to meet you, I love you" were exchanged on the cloud between Chinese-speaking faculty and students of the two universities. The classroom is a welcoming and lively place where students and teacher alike can engage in regular and meaningful conversation.

It has been reported that DGUT and UPSE University, Ecuador have recently formalized an inter-school cooperative relationship and are working together to offer online Chinese course programs. After six months of planning, the program launched as planned, meeting the needs of both UPSE University and its students. More than 60 students from Ecuador, all of whom have no prior knowledge of Chinese, are enrolled in the initial phase of the program's two classes.

The South American country of Ecuador is among the first group of countries to work with China to build "the Belt and Road" in Latin America. Teaching Chinese as a foreign language is a major step in DGUT's effort to promote educational collaboration and exchange with Latin American countries as part of the "Belt and Road" Initiative.