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An application jointly submitted by the University of Macau (UM) and several partner universities in Asia and Europe to the European Commission for an Erasmus Mundus Mobilities fellowship has been approved. The fellowship aims to facilitate graduate student travel and study between Asia and Europe. The application is one of five successful projects selected from a total of 19 submissions in “Strand 2” and will receive a grant of EUR 1,347,000.
The project name is MULTI,–Multilingualism and Multiculturalism: Linguistic Approaches to Transition and Identity.
In recent years the European Union (EU) has become one of the largest educational and research partners of the Southeast Asia region (SEA) through bilateral collaboration and multilateral projects. The mobility of researchers between Europe and Asia is important for the vitality of both regions as knowledge-driven economies within the global community.
A mobile workforce is particularly important in promoting the flow of knowledge and in ensuring a diverse and highly-skilled workforce that has the capacity to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges. This project aims to address these challenges by promoting cross-national research on language and culture. On the language front, the project addresses the teaching, translation and processing of it, with the aim of increasing the multilingualism of available knowledge resources. Concerning culture, the project aims to understand multiculturalism and its impact in both EU and SEA societies. This project is of particular importance to Macao, which due to its Chinese and Portuguese heritage has an indigenous multilingual and multicultural identity.
The fellowship will cover the travel costs, monthly allowance, and tuition fees for participants to study at partner universities. Under the fellowship, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH) of UM will send a total of five master's students, two PhD students, and one post-doctoral researcher to the participating institutions in Europe to take courses and conduct thesis research for time periods varying from six to 12 months, as well as sending one staff member to a European university for one month. UM will also receive graduate students and staff from the participating European institutions. The total duration of this mobility scheme will be 39 months.
Participating universities include Universite of Provence (France), Universita of Pisa (Italy), Universitat des Saarlandes (Germany), Freie Univeristat Berlin (Germany)
City University of London (UK), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, National Taiwan University, Nanyang Technological University and UM.
Coordinating staff from these universities recently attended a project kick-off meeting at Universite of Provence, in Aix-en-Provence, France.
