Sorry, it is more correct to say "centuries" and "courts".

Cambridge University apppinted its first professor of Chinese in 1888.  He was Thomas Wade, who developed the first pinyin system for Chinese in the mid 19th century: the Wade-Giles system (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles), which is still in use in Taiwan today.

Sir Thomas Wade: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Francis_Wade

英国在七十年前已把中文列为高考科目之一!

Cool

只在几个城市作为试点。