The University of Macau (UM) today (25 September) presented 17 academic prizes to more than 70 outstanding fresh graduates.

In his speech, UM Rector Yonghua Song congratulated the students and thanked the donors of the academic prizes. According to him, UM has been actively involved in the development of China, the Greater Bay Area (GBA), and Macao. In 2019, UM established its first industry-academia collaboration base in the GBA via Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute, which was followed by the creation of various academic units, including the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, the Centre for Regional Oceans, and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. These new units are part of UM’s effort to develop a research strategy that integrates science and technology with humanities and social sciences, and to actively promote industry-academia collaboration as well as technology transfer. In terms of external outreach, UM is continuously expanding its collaboration with mainland and overseas universities, offering dual and joint degree programmes with some of the world’s top universities, as well as establishing joint laboratories and national-level research platforms, in order to enhance the university's teaching quality and international competitiveness and promote the diversification and sustainable development of Macao's higher education system.

Tang Jiaxuan, a fresh graduate of Portuguese studies and a recipient of the Henry Fok Foundation Academic Prize, says that UM provides many internship opportunities to prepare students for their future careers. Professors in the Department of Portuguese also create opportunities for students to participate in Portuguese-language activities from their first year of study, so that they can be exposed to the Portuguese culture and communicate with people from Portuguese-speaking countries. Tang adds that she plans to pursue a master’s degree in Chinese-Portuguese translation studies and hopes to serve Macao with her language skills.

At the ceremony, 17 kinds of academic prizes were presented, namely Macau Foundation Academic Prize, Henry Fok Foundation Academic Prize, Bank of China Academic Prize, Luso International Bank Academic Prize, ICBC Macau Academic Prize, MECOM Power - Hung Yip Group Academic Prize, Wu's Group Academic Prize, Choi Kai Yau Academic Prize, Lou Tou Vo Mathematics Academic Prize, Jorge Alvares Foundation Academic Prize, BNU Academic Prize, CEM Academic Prize, Synopsys Academic Prize, Mil Law Office Academic Prize, EasyTone Academic Prize, Macau Civil Engineering Laboratory (LECM) Academic Prize, and ERS Academic Prize.

In the past academic year, the university gave out over MOP 4 million in more than 60 kinds of academic prizes and scholarships to over 400 students.