Education | IPM Seniors Academy students graduate with sense of fulfillment

The saying “one is never too old to learn” is a highly appropriate way to describe yesterday’s Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) graduation ceremony, where around 90 local seniors received their certificates acknowledging their four years of hard work.
IPM’s Seniors Academy was established in 1999, and is dedicated to realizing life-long education for the elderly in the city. Last year, the academy offered a wide range of subjects that attracted 592 applications, but only just over 130 of those applicants were admitted to the school after a lottery draw.
Among all of the graduates aged over 55 from the academy’s 16th cohort, Chan Ping Chuen and Pang Dai Muoi, aged 81 and 85 respectively, were the oldest students. However, the octogenarians’ age did not deter them from participating in what they regarded as a fulfilling endeavor. Yesterday’s graduation was their second, which is not unusual, as most of the students opt to return to the academy to continue their study after graduation.
“I have learnt a lot new of new things. There were no computer subjects in the past, nor digital photography. I didn’t know much back then. I have not only acquired a lot of new knowledge, but also made lots of new friends. And I have also participated in many activities,” said Chan Ping Chuen, who advocated that people should continue exploring their interests and learning new things until they physically cannot continue to do so.
Starting with information technology before moving into Chinese literature, while at the same time being fully engaged in the Chinese musical instrument the erhu, Chan recounted his learning experience at the Academy, also saying that he braved all difficulties in order to broaden his knowledge.
As a grandmother of three great grandchildren, Pang admitted that she has completed almost all the courses offered by the academy over the past eight years. Even so, she still wishes to further brush up on her English, despite having lived in Canada for a substantial period of time.
She felt appreciative of the higher education institute for opening the school for seniors, where she could accomplish something that was unattainable in her youth.
“I needed to take care of my family when I was young. There weren’t many chances for me to learn as well,” said the mature student, who then joked that seniors should keep themselves up to date with the ever-evolving new technology.
The Director of the Seniors Academy, Dr Lam Wan Mei, told the media before the ceremony that the government’s yearly education subsidy of MOP6,000 per person indeed helped to cover much of the students’ tuition costs, as many choose to pay through the grant. Staff reporter