Mainland student interviews | ‘Here we have Facebook and Twitter’

UM’s relocation hasn’t solved its alleged lack of student diversity (80 percent are locals) and insufficient internationalization, two issues that some scholars and students deem to be the institution’s biggest faults.
“It would be good if there was a higher diversity of students, and I think that the teaching could be better. The English proficiency of the Asian professors is not so good (…) and I think that the UM should hire more [foreign scholars],” Peter Sun, a finance student from Qingdao, told Lusa. The 22-year-old student further revealed that he felt isolated at the new campus, and only went to Macau on weekends due to the lack of public buses available. “Sometimes I don’t know if I’m in Macau or in China. China is around the corner and even the mobile network turns to Chinese operators sometimes,” he says.
UM scholar Teresa Vong believes that the institution “is far from diverse” regarding the origins of the students. “We attract more students from China, but we should have a higher number of students from Portuguese-
speaking countries, which should be our particular niche since nobody else is going to do it. When Hong Kong visitors come, they say that this looks like China and everybody speaks Mandarin everywhere,” she mentions.
Lucy Choi is a local student who has a positive view about the new installations, despite thinking that they are “too large.” The residential college system allowed her to gain independence and live outside her family’s home. To stay in the new campus, she pays an annual fee of MOP20,000, including 15 meals per week.
Her colleague, Peter Sun, says that the dormitories are small but he recognizes that conditions are better than those found at mainland universities.
“In China, it is much worse. We share the room with eight students [in Macau, it’s 2], and we have to study Chinese policies. Here, we have Facebook and Twitter, the teachers are more open and they debate issues that aren’t discussed in China,” he says.
However, according to him, that doesn’t mean that everything is up for debate: “If we are against the government, we are not going to have a good future here. As opposed to Hong Kong, Macau is very obedient.” MDT/Lusa