Margarida Mano, President of the Portuguese-Speaking Higher Education Forum (FORGES) and Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal, visited Macao Polytechnic University on March 6, to enhance international exchange and cooperation and leverage Macao’s role as a platform between China and Portugal. She was warmly received by Im Sio Kei, MPU’s Rector, and they had extensive and pleasant discussions on various topics, including the forthcoming 14th FORGES Seminar on Higher Education Management to be hosted by MPU in November this year.

Im Sio Kei stated that MPU has had a longstanding cooperation with the FORGES Forum Committee, and it was honoured to once again host the Seminar on Higher Education Management for Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Regions. The university had hosted and co-hosted the 2nd and 11th seminars in 2012 and 2021 respectively. It was also invited last year to join the “Network of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Regions for Sustainable Development” and has maintained close cooperation with dozens of higher education institutions from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, contributing to international sustainable development. Im Sio Kei added that MPU, as the host of the 14th FORGES Seminar, would continue to leverage Macao’s role as a platform between China and Portugal, taking advantage of the opportunities brought by the construction of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. MPU would collaborate with universities from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions to contribute to mutual success in academic research.

Margarida Mano extended her gratitude for the warm reception and congratulated MPU on its fruitful collaboration with universities from Portuguese-speaking countries. She reviewed the cooperation between FORGES and MPU over the past decade, highlighting joint research projects, co-hosted forums, and lectures by renowned Chinese and Portuguese scholars as successful forms of collaboration. She looked forward to the reunion of universities from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions at the 14th Seminar on Higher Education Management for Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Regions, to be held in Macao at the end of this year. She hoped that they could discuss key issues pertinent to higher education in Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, and that this seminar would be an opportunity for strengthening cross-regional academic cooperation and achieving innovative outcomes based a better understanding by Portuguese-speaking countries about the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

During her visit to MPU, Margarida Mano delivered an academic lecture titled “New Perspectives on China-Portugal Relations: Higher Education in Portuguese-Speaking Countries”. She gave a detailed introduction of the significance and development of the Portuguese language, the status quo of higher education in Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, FORGES, global challenges, and possible domains of intersectional cooperation. Zhang Yunfeng, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Translation; Joaquim Carvalho, Director of the PhD Program in Portuguese; Rui Gama, Director of the Portuguese Language Teaching and Research Center, and nearly a hundred teachers and students attended the lecture in a lively atmosphere.