Education | UM partners with mainland schools for the teaching of Portuguese

UM representatives visited two mainland schools

The University of Macau (UM) has sought academic collaboration with two mainland universities earlier this month on Portuguese-language teaching and research.
The university, which recently faced heavy criticism over the possibility that it will reduce the number of Portuguese courses, has inked several accords with the Shanghai International Studies University and Zhejiang International Studies University.
According to a press release issued by the local university yesterday, the partnership allowed both sides to increase their cooperation on student exchanges, research projects and academic conferences.
During an official visit to the two schools, representatives of the collaborating universities told the local delegation, led by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ Dean, Hong Gang Jin, and the Department of Portuguese’s head, Maria Fernanda Costa, that the schools were considering sending their junior-year undergraduates in Portuguese studies to UM for studies.
“UM hopes to create long-term collaborative relationships with more universities in order to create a better environment for Portuguese teaching and learning, and to continue to make contributions to the development of Portuguese language education in Macao and Mainland China,” the statement reads.
Last month during the Policy Address presentation, the university’s rector Wei Zhao denied the allegation that the university had decreased its efforts to promote the teaching of the Portuguese language. Wei was responding to criticism from lawmakers following the announcement that Portuguese would cease being an optional discipline in some UM courses. AU

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