Education | Lei Heong Iok equals Polytechnic Institute to university

Lei delivers a speech at the event

The Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) held its 2018 IPM Open Day on Saturday to introduce students to its teaching facilities, programs and curricula. The event also featured a series of activities for the public.

According to the institute, the Open Day attracted nearly 2,000 high school students.

On average, IPM enrolls about 3,000 students in its various programs every
academic year. Of these, about 400 are from the mainland and some 150 are international students, while the rest are local.

Each year, over 600 students receive scholarships sponsored by government agencies and various sectors of the community, which are worth a cumulative MOP10 million and benefit about 15 percent of total student enrollments.

IPM aims to admit 700 new students this year and increase the percentage of new mainland students from 15 to 18 percent.

IPM president Lei Heong Iok said that the institute holds extensive academic accreditation on an international level. 

Questioned by the press on whether IPM will eventually become a full-fledged university, Lei said that the matter is no longer a priority.

“As everybody knows, most of our programs have passed the evaluations by [the] Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and other international organizations. Therefore, whether or not IPM will become a university isn’t a priority anymore,” said Lei.

“It is a regret that we’re far from the title of a university but that’s something we can knock off because of our accreditation. I think IPM is [a] university in my eyes,” the president continued.

Lei also added that Macau’s four institutions of higher education should collaborate to improve education services for local and international students.

“We should work […] together to make the most out of our perspective programs instead of setting up more schools and allotting more responsibility to the schools,” he said.

In his opening speech, Lei underscored IPM’s long-term commitment to the guiding principles of “student-centered and quality-oriented” education, in line with the school’s motto of “Knowledge, Expertise, and Global Vision.”

More than 17,000 students have graduated from IPM to date.