The Board of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (AULP) recently held a meeting on the University of Macau’s (UM) new campus, and approved the proposal from UM, IPM and IFT to organise the 24th Annual Meeting of AULP in Macao, between 15 September and 17 September. The meeting was chaired by AULP President and Rector of University Lúrio, Mozambique, Prof. Jorge Ferrão.

Besides the president, four vice presidents were also present at the meeting. They are Prof. Clélio Campolina Diniz, rector of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Prof. António Branco, rector of the University of Algarve, Portugal; Prof. Agatângelo Eduardo, vice rector of the University Agostinho Neto, Angola, representing the rector Prof. Orlando da Mata; and Prof. Rui Martins, vice rector (research) of UM, representing Rector Wei Zhao.

The board discussed several issues related to the normal annual operation of AULP, in particular the Fernão Mendes Pinto Prize granted every year to the best PhD thesis selected from all the member universities of AULP, a programme about the mobility of students and the institutional evaluation within AULP, the admission of new members, as well as the diversified range of publications sponsored by AULP. Finally, the board analysed and approved the proposal from UM, IPM and IFT to organise the 24th annual meeting of AULP in Macao, between 15 September and 17 September, on UM’s new campus. The theme of this year’s annual meeting is "Tourism among the Portuguese Speaking Countries”. Besides attending this meeting, AULP board members also made courtesy visits to the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture, where they met with Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Cheong U, as well as to the Macao Foundation, where they met with Administrative Committee President Wu Zhiliang. They also held a meeting with UM Rector Wei Zhao. During the meeting board members mentioned that the new campus left a very positive impression on them, describing the new campus as “unique in the world.”

Other board members who attended the meeting included Prof. Judite Nascimento, rector of the University of Cabo Verde, Cabo Verde; Prof. Lourenço Rosário, rector of University Polytechnic, Mozambique; Prof. Armando Pires, president of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal; Prof. Matilde Scaramucci, representing the rector of the State University of Campinas, Brazil; Prof. Francisco Soares, representing the rector of Independent University, Angola; and Dra. Teresa Botelheiro, executive secretary of AULP.