Education | MUST launches 7th annual communication week

The Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) launched the 7th Macau International Communication Week yesterday, an annual event with academic sessions on communication studies.
Themed “The deterritorialization of communication research: From humans to materials”, this year’s event is organized in association with the Center for Information and Communication Studies of the Fudan University in Shanghai and the School of Journalism and Communication of the Shandong University.
The three-day event will include key forums including PhD candidate forums, cooperative meetings between research bases, the launch of a Greater Bay Area youth video contest, as well as other academic events.
According to MUST, this communication week explores “cutting-edge research and educational topics on communication. It will transcend geographical restrictions and actively explore solutions to new problems and challenges.”
In his speech, Professor Shen Guolin, director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of the Fudan University, highlighted the strategic partnership the two universities have in communication studies.
At yesterday’s opening ceremony, the MUST signed a cooperation memorandum on the development of the Macau Media Research Center with the Center for Information and Communication Studies of the Fudan University. The Macau Media Research Center will remain a key research base accredited by the Ministry of Education.

Taller buildings for education and research
Dr Tong Ka Lok, vice president of the MUST, commented on the sidelines of the communication week launch that the university is aiming at long-term development and needs extended building height to achieve that.
It was in response to an earlier Urban Planning Committee plenary, in which a development plan submitted by the MUST was put on hold due to the requirement for further considerations and clarifications.
In the proposal, the university asked to raise the height clearance of buildings within the MUST land plot from 52 meters to 100 meters. The increase may result in exceeding the maximum plot ratio allowed. The committee also pointed out that the MUST still has unused spaces.
Tong finds that there is room for open dialogue sessions on the issue. He also questioned the grounds for barring a school to have higher buildings. He stressed that laboratories need higher ceiling, meaning that a lab building has fewer floors than, for example, a residential building.
He hinted that the university may seek spaces in the Greater Bay Area for research.