Picture by Virginia Tai

Rector Professor Vai Pan Iu

University of Macau (UM) offers a new Gaming Management Program in the fall semester to meet the increasing demand for gaming professionals.

Professor Vai Pan Iu, rector of the university, said that the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA) was responsible for the operation of the gaming program in which gaming management internship would be provided for the students in their fourth year of study.

Professor Iu shared with UMac Bridges that the university started to organize the program around a year ago, and Gaming Management programs in Britain, Australia and America were attended. “Since Las Vegas is the most famous gaming city and our program is new in UM, we visited the University of Nevada in Las Vegas last year and studied the elements of the program,” said Professor Iu. “We designed our gaming program based on the actual situation in Macao and with the assistance of the professors in the University of Nevada.”

According to Professor Iu, lecturers who are going to teach the gaming courses took courses in the University of Nevada so as to strengthen their knowledge and teaching ability. He added that our university has also employed a professor from Canada to teach quantitative courses.

Picture by Virginia Tai

Adrians Chan, a first-year FBA student

The gaming program offers at least ten core courses, including “The Macao Gaming Industry and Economy,” “Psychology of Gambling,” “Casino Management,” “Accounting for the Gaming Industry,” and “Gaming Regulations.” Professor Iu shared with UMac Bridges that there were around 3,000 applicants for bachelor-degree programs this year, which meant a 25 percent increase compared to those of last year. “Out of the 3,000 applicants, nearly half of the students chose business administration as their first choice,” stated Professor Iu. According to the rector, UM would recruit the first-year Picture by Virginia Tai Adrians Chan, a first-year FBA student and the second-year students in the Gaming Management program this year. “To be fair to other FBA programs, UM does not want the public to put too much emphasis on the gaming program, and every program will recruit 30-40 students,” said Professor Iu.

Vivian Leong, a pre-university student, commented that she chose the gaming program as her first choice in her bachelor degree study application because it was useful in the sense that it could increase her working opportunities as the job market of the gaming industry expanded.

Professor Iu admitted that it was not enough and unfair to evaluate the recent first-year FBA students who showed their interests in the gaming program, simply based on their academic results in their first year of studies. He said that interviews might be arranged for the evaluation of the students this year.

Teresa Wong, a first-year FBA student, expressed that she would choose the gaming program as her major. “I believe that there is room for development in the gaming industry in Macao and I have confidence in UM as it puts a lot of efforts in the preparation of the program like sending lecturers to study in the USA,” shared Wong.

According to Professor Iu, the gaming program could help to train and provide gaming experts in the territory as a whole. He added that the liberalization of gaming industry in Macao resulted in a greater demand of gaming experts in society, and UM, being a leading tertiary education institution in Macao, has a mission to assist in the development of the territory.