The University of Macau (UM), one of the first two big structures on Taipa island, has been standing on the top of the island for over 30 years. However, it has made an unprecedented decision to move to Hengqin Island and started a new page. Especially, it emphasizes on the Residential College (RC), a completely new concept to university students. Will students accept and get adapted into the new environment?
UM submitted a proposal of moving the whole campus and establishing RCs in Hengqin Island to the Macao SAR Government in March 2008. President Hu Jintao of the Central Government held the ground breaking ceremony of the new campus on the Macao Handover Day of 2009. This affirmed and encouraged UM to become a world-class university. With the support of the Central Government and the governments of Guangdong and Macao, the new campus of UM is being built up. It covers an area of approximately one-square-kilometre, which is about 20 times larger than the current campus. It can accommodate approximately 10,000 students.
The concept of RC is central to this new campus project. According to the UM official website, the university has observed the problems of a lack of interactions between professors and students. Professors are busy with their research and publications, and students feel that they are being neglected when they encounter any difficulties, including academic studies or their personal and inter-personal development. The concept of RC is aimed to solve this problem. Living in RC, professors can have time to interact and communicate with students through learning and extracurricular activities. This can also encourage students to build up a sense of belonging in school life and cultivate to be a “whole person”.
In fact, the RC system has been practiced by the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. The concept has also been adopted by Asian universities such as The Chinese University Of Hong Kong. With the limited space of the current campus, it is difficult for UM to implement the RC system. However, the new campus provides an unprecedented opportunity to UM. The Hengqin campus will be an ideal place to establish a full-scale RC system. UM plans to build 8-12 RCs, each can accommodate approximately 500 people. Two RCs were built on a trial basis in the current campus in September 2010, namely East Asia College (EAC) and Pearl Jubilee College (PJC). During the semester of 2011/2012, living in the EAC cost MOP12,000 while PJC cost MOP10,000.
According to the staff of PJC, there are 204 students who live in PJC this semester. The local students and non-local students have a different payment scheme; local students pay MOP4,000 in an academic year, while non-local students MOP5,000. For EAC, there are about 300 students living in EAC this semester. The payment for local students is MOP4,800 and non-local students is MOP6,000, according to the staff of EAC.
Eunice Ian, a local student of UM expressed her opinion towards the topic, “It can allocate more resources on education and expand the structure of RC, and this can help cultivate students to be a “whole person”. Another year one student Nelson Chan also supported the move of UM to Hengqin Island, “RC consists of students in different majors and UM is adopting the General Education System, students in different majors can counsel and help to solve problems with professors or one another.” He added, “This is also a chance for students to sacrifice their time in working on part-time jobs and focus on studies.”
There are also students who are concerned about the influence after moving to the new campus. Jacob Iong, a non-local year one student said, “In my opinion, there are both advantages and disadvantages to live in the RC. I am a non-local student and this increases the chance for me to meet with more local students, however Hengqin Island is still under development, and many facilities are not fully equipped.”
Local students are concerned about the cost of living in RCs. “Macao is a small island and it is not reasonable to live in the RC as it is quite expensive,” said year three local student, Aries Un. According to the UM official website, local students who are willing to live in the RC should pay MOP12,500 (MOP6,250 per semester) while non-local students should pay MOP20,000 (MOP10,000 per semester). The fee covers 15 meals per week, activities, overseas exchange activities (applicants who meet all the requirements will be granted funding), water and electricity subsidy, etc. UM meets with the principle of high standards and low fees, said the website.
Another concern is the transportation. Un continued, “As a student, the most concerned problem is transportation. It is very inconvenient for those who do not own a motorcycle.” According to the Transport Bureau of the Macao SAR (DSAT), there are two bus routes departing from Macao and Taipa bus stations. “It is still uncertain which route it will take as DSAT has not yet announced it. It might be in Areia Preta or A-Ma,” said Elvo Sou, head of Student Counseling and Development Section of Students Affairs Office (SAO).
Moving to a new and special environment, the new campus will provide about 2,500 parking space for light-duty vehicles and 1,200 spaces for motorbikes. The school will provide shuttle buses inside the new campus so that students do not need to walk for a long distance from one place to another. Besides, there are also some bicycles for renting; 12 bicycle parking stations and 1,085 bicycle parking spaces. The most concerned problem for students is the personal security, according to Sou. “The new campus has Macao Public Security Police Force and Fire Services Bureau, they will be providing 24 hours service everyday, the same service as the campus has now. However, the clinic cannot operate 24 hours, rather we can encourage it to extend the office hours,” said Sou.