By Catarina Lei
Macao will continue improving its Portuguese language education and strengthening its ties with universities of Portuguese-speaking countries, said Chui Sai On, Secretary of Social Affairs and Culture in the opening ceremony of the 13th Meeting of the Association University Language Portuguese (AULP) on October 6.
He said that the cooperation between institutions of higher education in Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries would be beneficial for the promotion of education in Macao. Chui said that Portuguese remains one of our official languages and activities in Portuguese education are encouraged.
Between October 6 and 10, the University of Macao (Umac) and Macau Polytechnic Institution jointly hosted the 13th gathering of AULP. The aim is to promote cooperation among universities of Portuguese-speaking countries in the world. This year¡¦s theme of the meeting focused on the Portuguese Speaking Space of High Education and Scientific Research. The Principal of Angola¡¦s state-owned Agostinho Neto University of Brazil, Joao Teta was one of the invited speakers.
AULP is a kind of executive secretariat of higher teaching policy in the respective countries. It includes about 140 member universities in the Portuguese speaking nations and regions. It acts as an agent among nations like Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and other Portuguese speaking countries to coordinate much better teaching. The annual meeting covered balanced activities including theme discussion, problem analysis and organizational management.
This was the second time that AULP was held in Macao as the enclave maintains the Portuguese language as its official language and Portuguese education in its universities even after the handover in 1999. There are several Portuguese schools in the city. The Macao government encourages the Portuguese language schools to enhance their students¡¦exchange activities with Portuguese-speaking countries. The Portuguese-speaking universities provide Macao students with opportunities to study abroad in Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, and so on.
The Director of the Department of Portuguese, Maria Antonia Nicolau Espadinha, said the AULP meeting is for development and exchanging information of Portuguese academic studies and investigation among researchers in the association. She added that there is a virtual online university and online library that encourages students to improve their Portuguese studies.
A Year-4 English Communication student, Alberto Berttencourt, said that he supports this kind of activity to be held in Macao. He said that Macao can take advantage of its link with other Portuguese speaking countries in cooperating with them and promote the Portuguese culture in Macao.
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