City sees increase in university students

There are 55,000 registered students in higher education across the city in the academic year 2023/2024, Director of Education and Youth Development Kong Chi Meng has announced.

While replying to a written inquiry by lawmaker Lei Chan U on the development of higher education in Macau, Kong recalled that in the academic year 2018/2019, there were 34,000 registered students in higher education.

Kong further revealed that in the earlier academic year, the percentage of post-graduate students was 25.5%. In the latest academic year, the percentage rose to 39%.

He boasted that not only had the local scale of higher education expanded, the quality of teaching and research had also garnered additional recognition in both regional and international contexts. Kong also said that several local institutions had gained elevated positions in international ranking.

Blaming the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on human movements, the education official pointed out that his bureau had in 2023 organized educational delegations to a variety of locations, such as Portugal and Southeast Asian countries to promote Macau’s higher education. Online and audio-visual efforts have also been deployed to familiarize foreign parents with the city’s higher education offering.

In addition, Kong disclosed that his bureau would constantly coordinate exchanges between local and foreign institutions or entities, especially in education expos, in order to better promote the city’s higher education and attract more non-local students.

Kong also said that his bureau utilizes a few taskforces to bridge local institutions, which are also encouraged to form federations in library resources and Chinese-Portuguese bilingualism, among other topics.

Kong also underlined that the government had done a lot in improving the quality of education and research and in developing advantaged courses and featured programs, as well as in promoting the commodification of research results.