Pang Chuan blames gov’t for university ‘brain drain’

Lawmaker Pang Chuan has found discrepancies between the speech of the government and their actions in concerning the promotion of Macau as a “university and science and technology city.”

In a spoken inquiry delivered recently during the period before the agenda at the Legislative Assembly (AL), Pang blamed the government for a lack of investment in tertiary education institutions and for a “brain drain” that has been taking place at the local universities.

According to the lawmaker, when assessing applications for qualified staff, great importance is given to those who carry out scientific research and teaching roles in higher education institutions in Macau.

“As for qualified staff from the four major industries that the government is promoting, and in response to my inquiry, the Secretary [Ao Ieong U] mentioned that ‘she cannot see a [field of study] that is not related to those four industries,’ but, in reality, many academics received answers completely different [from the government’s espoused position while applying to residency for qualified staff],” the lawmaker explained.

The four industries include sci-tech research and high-end manufacturing; traditional Chinese medicine; cultural tourism, convention and exhibition, and modern finance. 

“I noticed, with great sadness, that both at public and in private universities elite [academics] have left Macau because they could not obtain the Macau BIR [residency card]. I hope the government does something to help Macau’s higher education institutions attract qualified staff,” Pang added.

The same lawmaker also called on the government to help with other aspects such as space for expansion of the universities, as he noted that with the growth of the institutions comes the need for more space to expand the learning facilities.

Additionally, he remarked that while the government calls on the universities to “industrialize” themselves and turn to the production of knowledge and products for the commercial market, there is still a need for investment by the government in research and development for this to happen, otherwise, institutions can only focus on very few projects at the one time.