Several institutions see gov’t funding halted due to non-compliance

Several educational institutions have been losing part or all of their government funding because they failed to comply with the rules, particularly submitting reports in a timely manner.

According to information published on the Public Assets Supervision and Administration Bureau portal, the failure to submit timely reports is the primary cause of the reduction of public funding for institutions.

In the latest case, the Beijing Foreign Studies University Macau Student Communication Association was also penalized in the same way for submitting its financial report late.

This year alone, 13 institutions, including the Kiang Wu Charitable Association, the Rotaract Club of Macau, the Macau Portuguese School (EPM), and the Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation, have seen funding cuts for the same issue.

In the case of the Rotaract Club of Macau, the association had its financial support canceled for violations of unspecified duties defined in the financial support plan, related to its 2024 annual financial plan for students and youth.

Lighter penalties have been applied in cases such as the EPM, where the report on the subsidy plan for their 2023/2024 extracurricular activities was delayed.

In this case, the Education and Youth Development Bureau will not deduct an amount related to a 5% reduction from the total financial support, a sum that serves as a deposit.

Although these penalties are common and can occur for many reasons, including discrepancies between the original plans submitted for financial support and the actual implementation, the government portal shows that many institutions have had their funding completely canceled.

Depending on the reasons, this can lead to a ban from reapplying for other subsidy and financial support programs for up to two years, as specified by the regulation for the Education Fund.