In order to contribute to the reinforcement of the role of Macao as a basis for intercultural sharing and a platform for Sino-Lusophone cooperation, and with the aim of sharing with the Higher Education Institutions of Portuguese Speaking Countries and Regions the experiences of the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) in institutional quality improvement processes, the President of MPI, Professor IM Sio Kei, Marcus, participated in an International Online Forum on “Models and Experiences of Institutional Quality Assurance in Higher Education”.

The Forum took place on the 7th of May, as part of a cycle of debates entitled “Higher Education in Question in Portuguese Language Space”, which took place during the “Portuguese Language Week”, organised by the FORGES Association (Forum for Higher Education Management in Portuguese-speaking Countries and Regions) within the scope of the celebrations of UNESCO Portuguese Language World Day. The panel included João Guerreiro, President of the Board of Directors of the Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency in Portugal (A3ES), Ana Nhampule, Vice-Rector of the Joaquim Chissano University of Mozambique, Sandra Sousa, Professor at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, and was moderated by Joaquim Mourato, from the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre.

In his speech, the President of MPI described the evolution of Higher Education in Macao and its great development in recent years. He explained the role of Macao as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, a Platform for trade and services between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries and a Base for cultural exchange and cooperation. From this context, Professor IM Sio Kei described MPI’s strategic commitment to the development of the institutional Quality Assurance System, in collaboration with reputable assessment agencies, such as HEEC from the Ministry of Education of China, A3ES from Portugal, IET and QAA from the United Kingdom, AQA from New Zealand and also HKCAAVQ from Hong Kong and HEEACT from Taiwan.

MPI has 18 years of experience in the autonomous development of quality systems and processes with international standards. In this way, MPI has ensured high standards in its contributions to the training of qualified bilingual talents, to the promotion of Portuguese language teaching in the Greater Bay Area and other regions of China, as well as the development of scientific research in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Translation, through the creation of the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory, playing an important role in the construction and development of Macao as a platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.