As the only public comprehensive university in Macao, the University of Macau (UM) has the responsibility to nurture local talent needed for the development of the city. In terms of resource allocation, the university strictly follows the principle of making judicious use of public funds, rewarding outstanding students, assisting students in need, and enhancing teaching quality, in order to continuously improve teaching quality while ensuring equity in education. The university also provides support to Macao’s positioning and talent development strategy through the launch of new degree programmes and the establishment of talent training centres.
In recent years, to meet the changing needs of the fast-developing society, the university has launched new programmes, including undergraduate programmes in data analytics, bioinformatics, and applied physics and chemistry; master’s programmes in financial technology, microelectronics, data science, and EMBA; as well as doctoral programmes in business administration, education, and public administration. The university has also established various centres to produce talent needed for Macao’s development. One of these centres is the Public Administration Training Centre, which aims to serve as a comprehensive platform to enhance the quality of public servants and to support the implementation of the Macao SAR government’s talent development plan.
By following the principle of making judicious use of public funds, rewarding outstanding students, assisting students in need, and enhancing teaching quality, UM has been constantly reviewing its resource allocation strategy in recent years. One of the items under review is tuition adjustment, which aims to improve teaching quality while ensuring equity in education. Considering that the education cost of UM is similar to that of its counterparts in Hong Kong, after conducting several in-depth studies on tuition fee adjustments, UM has adjusted the fees for undergraduate and postgraduate students by taking into consideration the tuition rates in Hong Kong (The amount of tuition fees at Hong Kong Polytechnic University represents the median and is therefore used here as a benchmark). The tuition fee for local students in undergraduate programmes at UM is MOP30,000 per year in the 2021/2022 academic year. Starting from the 2022/2023 academic year, the tuition fee will be adjusted to MOP37,500, while the tuition fee for local students in undergraduate programmes at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is MOP43,400 per year. The tuition fee for local students in master’s degree programmes at UM is MOP36,000 per year in the 2021/2022 academic year. Starting from the 2022/2023 academic year, the tuition fee will be adjusted to MOP48,900, while the tuition fee for local students in master’s degree programmes at PolyU is MOP143,700 (or more for those pursuing a degree in business administration). The tuition fee for local students in doctoral programmes at UM is MOP21,760 per year in the 2021/2022 academic year. Starting from the 2022/2023 academic year, the tuition fee will be adjusted to MOP37,500, while the tuition fee for local students in master’s degree programmes at PolyU is MOP43,400. Therefore, the tuition fees for local students at UM will still be much lower than those of Hong Kong after the adjustment. In addition, the tuition adjustment will only apply to new admissions and will not affect existing students.
UM is committed to ensuring that budget adjustments will not affect student scholarships, fellowships, or teaching expenses after the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. In addition to reserving funds for scholarships for local undergraduate students for the 2022/2023 academic year, the university is actively soliciting support from the community to provide scholarships. In the 2021/2022 academic year, the university awarded a total of MOP 4 million in scholarships sponsored by prominent members of the community to more than 400 students. UM also provides fellowships for students in financial difficulties to protect students from the interruption of their studies due to financial difficulties. In 2021, the university received 28 applications for fellowships and 24 were approved. In the same year, 167 applications for tuition installments were received and all were approved. To mitigate the impact of the pandemic, the university will reduce tuition fees two years in a row, including a one-time tuition fee remission of MOP5,200 for first-year local undergraduate students or local undergraduate students resuming their studies in the 2021/2022 academic year, and a one-time tuition fee remission of MOP6,000 for first-year local undergraduate students or local undergraduate students resuming their studies in the 2022/2023 academic year. In addition, about 80 per cent of local master’s students hold jobs while studying, and half of the local doctoral students received scholarships or research assistantships. UM members will continue to work together to fight the pandemic. The university will also provide assistance to students in need so that we can overcome the difficulties together with the local community.
In response to the expectations of the central and SAR governments, the university will fulfill its educational mission, continue to strengthen its education philosophy and characteristics, continue to improve its ‘4-in-1’ education model, moderately expand its scale of operation, nurture more local talent, develop an excellent faculty team by nurturing and gathering leading talent for academic disciplines with a competitive advantage and key research fields, play a leadership role in technological innovation and talent development in the west of the Greater Bay Area, and establish a system for technological innovation and technology transfer in order to promote industry-academia collaboration, produce more results in science and technology, and serve the community.
Source: Communications Office, University of Macau
