The Student Orientation ceremony of the Macao University of Tourism (UTM) for the academic year 2024/2025 was held on 16 August and warmly welcomed over 900 new undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students from Macao, Mainland China and other countries and regions, seeing the largest intake in its history, with a year-on-year growth of 50%.
During the ceremony, UTM Rector Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan delivered welcoming remarks to new students, expressing her delight in having them join the vibrant and culturally diverse community of UTM. She emphasised that the year 2024 holds special significance for the University, as the name change in April has laid a stronger foundation for the innovation and strengthening of the development of programmes and academic disciplines, as well as further enhancing educational quality and the standard of teaching and research.
She remarked that this year’s admissions have been ideal, with the incoming students exhibiting exceptional overall quality. Notably, several new programmes have been widely welcomed, fully demonstrating the curriculum’s alignment with the contemporary trends and the needs of the international community. In the future, the University will continue to actively explore and develop new academic fields while strengthening the existing disciplines to cultivate high-end, interdisciplinary talents.
The Rector hopes that students will make full use of the educational resources offered by UTM, acquiring new knowledge, innovative skills and thinking, and actively participate in the diverse range of campus activities and international exchange programmes. She also extended her best wishes to all new students for a fulfilling and enriching campus life, growing together with the University. Looking ahead to the University’s 30th anniversary next year, she noted that a new teaching building will be unveiled in the Taipa campus, which will provide faculty members and students with more comprehensive teaching and supporting facilities, as well as expanded spaces for activities.
Additionally, to implement education on the spirit of “loving the motherland and Macao”, and to provide new students with a deeper understanding of national conditions, the University held its first national flag-raising ceremony of the new academic year on the same day, along with several seminars, among which the University invited Dr. Kong Wa, Associate Director of the Centre for Constitutional Law and Basic Law Studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau, through the Macao Basic Law Promotion Association, to host a special seminar on “The Correlation between the National Constitution Law, the Basic Law and the National Security Law”. The University also invited the Judiciary Police to give a seminar on “Cybercrime and Fraud Prevention” to raise students’ awareness of and to protect them from cybercrime and fraud. Furthermore, the Public Security Police Force sent representatives to deliver a special seminar on “Road Traffic Safety and Special Authorisation to Stay” to enhance the understanding of local laws among non-local students.
