Chui says UM promotes city’s image abroad

Students celebrate after the graduation ceremony

Macau’s chief executive Chui Sai On praised the University of Macau (UM)’s growing international influence, which helped enhance the city’s profile abroad at the 2015 congregation ceremony last Saturday afternoon at the school’s sports complex.
Officiating at the ceremony where over 1,000 graduating students received their certificates, Chui recognized the university, which has just entered the Times Higher Education’s 100 under 50 Rankings 2015, for its years of effort to nurture academic talent. The city’s leader was also convinced that the university would remain in “an important position on the higher education scene” in the territory with continuous support from the local government.
“The new campus is now up and running, the educational and curriculum reforms are being carried out that witnessed the implementation of the ‘four-
in-one’ education model, and a raft of academic and administrative optimizing measures have been put in place. Raising its academic status and influence aside, these reforms will enable the university to achieve sustainable development and increase its capabilities to nurture talent,” he said, adding that the 34-year-old university has been progressing towards its aspiration of a world-class tertiary institute.
The school’s rector Wei Zhao told the audience in his speech that with the central government’s extensive support, a former farmland area separated from the city, referred to as Hengqin Island, has successfully been transformed into the school’s new campus, calling it “a mission accomplished.”
The representative from UM’s Alumni Association, Ao Peng Kong, hoped that the graduates would always adhere to the university’s motto – humanity, integrity, propriety, wisdom and sincerity, even after leaving the school. He urged students to seize the “excellent opportunities” arising from the city’s “prosperous economy.”
Over 4,000 attendees participated in Saturday’s congregation ceremony.

Graduates plant tree on hengqin campus

More than a dozen UMAC graduates planted a flame tree at the Alumni Avenue of the Hengqin campus together with the school’s rector, as a way to show their gratitude towards their alma mater for their graduation ceremony. Zhao described the event as “significant in the school’s history” as it was the first time ever that the university received a student-donated tree as a gift.