Macao Polytechnic Institute held the opening ceremony for academic year 2019/2020 in MPI Multi-sport Pavilion on 20 August at 3:00 p.m. The ceremony carried forward the tradition of loving the country and Macao by hoisting the national flag and playing and singing the national anthem. This academic year, MPI inducted 1000 freshmen of Bachelor’s Degree programmes, Master’s Degree programmes and Ph.D. programmes, from Macao and other parts of the Greater Bay Area and from Portuguese-speaking countries; and more than 500 excellent students were awarded scholarships at the ceremony. Over 2000 participants, including community leaders, representatives of scholarship sponsors, representatives from universities at home and abroad, and MPI staff and students, attended the ceremony and stood as witnesses for the freshmen to be sworn into the MPI family with their oath of “MPI heart, our new start”, in a lively and touching atmosphere.
President Im Encouraged Students to Love the Country and Macao
MPI President Im Sio Kei officiated the opening ceremony and gave a speech to welcome the students. President Im said that MPI had been practicing its school ideology of “being deeply rooted in Macao while loving both Macao and the Motherland, and serving the local society while facing the world” and had cultivated a large number of talents of professionalism and innovative spirit. The talent cultivating mode of MPI and teaching quality had been recognized internationally and the Institute had been awarded several international prizes for its teaching quality; MPI students and alumni had made remarkable achievements in international sports games and technological innovation competitions; and the history and tradition, achievements and glories of MPI were waiting for the students to learn, to inherit and to pass on. He also pointed out that MPI emphasized the overall development of creative thinking, and he encouraged the students to inherit the optimism, strength of character and solidarity of “MPI people”, to expand their horizon and care for the society, to enrich their knowledge and strive for the heights, paving the way for a wonderful life.
Seizing the Opportunity and Contributing to the Country
President Im said to the freshmen that there was now a unique opportunity for Macao and the country to develop. The “Belt and Road” Initiative and the Development Plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area had entrusted Macao and the young students with a mission for the new era, which was also a good opportunity to cherish. He encouraged the students to be good listeners and learn from teachers; to think independently and discriminate wisely to improve their competence of independent exploration; and to question traditional academic opinions so as to be able to open up new ground, find new directions, push society forward by innovative spirit, and thus prepare themselves to contribute to the development of our country and Macao.
Greeting the New Era and Spreading Positive Energy
Freshman representative Lou Kit Long from the Master’s Degree Programme in Sports and Physical Education said he was excited by and expectant of the new university life. He was so happy to find MPI having developed into an international tertiary academy which had earned several international teaching quality awards, so as to provide a better learning environment and a rich academic atmosphere. Together with all the other freshmen, he was looking forward to exploring further the domain of knowledge and to equipping himself for the opportunities and challenges of the new era. Lou Kit Long also shared the encouraging solution with the freshmen to seize the learning opportunities and spread positive energy, to create a wonderful life for themselves and contribute their part to the development of society.
Multiple Orientation Activities to Facilitate Growth of the Freshmen
To facilitate the adaptation of freshmen to the university life and their growth, MPI will roll out a series of orientation activities during the entire semester following the opening ceremony, including orientation sessions, campus hunt, adventure and expansion projects, Student Mentor Programme, “New Heart New Life” activity, sharing session by outstanding MPI students, career planning lectures, entrepreneur sharing and visit, and other orientation activities organised by the MPI Student Union, to lay the foundation for the overall development of students.
