The opening ceremony for the 24th annual meeting of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (Associação das Universidades de Língua Portuguesa, AULP) was held on the University of Macau’s (UM) new campus today (17 September). Over 200 AULP members from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions attended the opening ceremony. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR Cheong U noted that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote exchange and cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas.

This is the fifth time that the AULP’s annual meeting has been held in Macao. This year’s annual meeting was co-organised by UM, Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), and received sponsorship and support from the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR, Macao Foundation, the Macau Government Tourist Office, and the Consulate General of Portugal in Macau. Officiating guests at the opening ceremony included Cheong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of Macao SAR; Prof Jorge Ferrão, chairman of the AULP and rector of the Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique; Prof Wei Zhao, rector of UM; Prof Lei Heong Iok, president of IPM; Dr Fanny Vong, president of IFT; Dr Wu Zhiliang, president of the Administrative Committee of Macao Foundation; and Maria Helena, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office.

Secretary Cheong U noted that Macao had hosted four previous annual meetings of the AULP, and every meeting had been very fruitful, which is testament to the close collaboration between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. He added that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas. He believes this year’s meeting will play a positive role in promoting the development of tourism industries in Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. 

Rector Wei Zhao said in his speech that although higher education institutions in Macao are relatively young, they have fostered a solid foundation which allowed them to launch various academic programmes and carry out extensive international collaborations. He added that several weeks earlier UM started the new academic year on the new campus, which signalled that higher education in Macao entered a new stage of development, so in this sense the new campus has special significance for higher education development both locally and internationally.

Prof Jorge Ferrão thanked Macao for providing good conditions for this year’s annual meeting. He noted that the Chinese language has more native speakers than any other language in the world, and the Portuguese language is also a much-used language, by about 250 million people worldwide; both languages play a very important role in promoting the development of political, economic, trade and cultural relations between nations as well as in the development of the tourism industry. Minister of Education and Science of Portugal Prof Nuno Crato, and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil Prof Clélio Campolina Diniz, who were unable to attend the annual meeting in person, sent their good wishes through video clips.

This year’s annual meeting started with the General Assembly of the AULP and the meeting of the AULP’s Administrative Council, followed by roundtable sessions on four topics, namely “Networks of Higher Education”, “Portuguese, a language with future?”, “Language Propagation and Tourist & Commercial Promotion”, and “From Internationalization to Integration”. Invited speakers included Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Cape Verde Dr António Correia e Silva, and Secretary of State of Science and Technology of Angola Prof João Sebastião Teta. 32 papers which were selected from this year’s submissions were presented at the meeting. Towards the end of the meeting, the Fernão Mendes Pinto Award was presented to authors of the three best PhD dissertations in Portuguese-speaking countries for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The AULP is an international academic organisation. Its members come from more than 200 higher education institutions in different countries and regions, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, and Macao. Institutions that enjoy provisional membership status include Portuguese departments at universities in the United States, France and Italy. Currently there six institutions in Macao that are AULP members. They are UM, IPM, IFT, the International Institute of Macau, the University of Saint Joseph, and the city University of Macau.  

Should you have any enquiries about the press release, please feel free to contact Ms. Albee Lei or Ms. Kristy Fok at（853）8397 4325 or prs.media@um.edu.mo or visit UM webpage www.umac.mo.