Education | USJ’s Open Day attracts over 700 participants

USJ students

The University of Saint Joseph held its annual Open Day at the Saint Joseph Seminary Campus on Saturday, welcoming nearly 700 guests and prospective students with various booths and activities.
This year, the event featured a 3D Corner in the Students’ Exhibition Room allowing participants to go on a 3D virtual tour of the USJ Green Campus, and shuttle buses were arranged to take guests to the campus under construction at Ilha Verde.
The rector of the University of Saint Joseph, Fr Peter Stilwell, is hopeful to move onto the new campus by the upcoming school year.
“Hsin Chong, the construction company, gave us a very detailed list of dates of when they will finish each part of the campus, and they are still proposing to have it ready and approved […] by the end of July. So that would mean that during the summer months we will be able to do some moving,” says the rector.
He also added that the moving would still depend on when the construction company finally hands the campus over to the university.

Bishop Stephen Lee (left) and Father Peter Stilwell

In regards to university programs, the institution will launch its bachelor courses in Fashion Design, Portuguese and Chinese Language and Culture in September, as well as a Master’s degree in Communication and Media.
“We are aiming for 200 students,” says Fr Stilwell. “We are [influenced by] the competition from other higher educational institutions, dependent on the quality of what we provide and [dependent on] the people being happy with what they’re getting in USJ.”
The rector claimed that one third of the institution’s students are international, suggesting that around 300 students are from different parts of the world.
The university also revealed that the central government is reviewing its measures for enrolling mainland students at Hong Kong and Macau universities.
“We were informed by Beijing that they’ve looked at our case carefully […] We in fact thought that we were going to have the green light, then we got a letter from the Macau government, […] which said that the central government was reviewing the criteria for enrolment of mainland students to higher education institutions in Hong Kong and Macau.”
However, Stilwell said that the school is still looking to attract mainland students, despite the proposal to enroll 60 students from China having been rejected. He added that serving international students is the institution’s “niche” in Macau’s higher education market and that the university is looking to attract more foreign students.
Moreover, the Bishop of Macau, Stephen Lee, admits that he is still unaware of the reasons behind the rejected proposal but hopes that there will be more opportunities for students from mainland China and other countries to come and study, as the university aims to become more “international.” Staff reporter