The 35th Annual Meeting of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (AULP) was held from 15 to 17 June at the University of Macau (UM), bringing together more than 150 representatives from higher education institutions in Macao, Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Timor-Leste. The meeting aimed to strengthen academic exchange and cooperation in higher education between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

At the opening ceremony, Yonghua Song, rector of UM, highlighted AULP’s role in promoting the Portuguese language and bringing academic institutions in the Lusophone world closer together. As UM was one of the first higher education institutions in Macao to join AULP, Song also underlined the university’s strategic positioning of being “rooted in Macao, contributing to the development of the Greater Bay Area, serving the nation’s development, and reaching out to the world”.

The rector also referred to the importance of the construction of UM’s campus in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, noting that it will not only enhance the university’s overall teaching and scientific research capacity, but also establish a solid platform for multidisciplinary cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese-speaking higher education institutions.

Speeches were also delivered by Fernando Alexandre, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation of Portugal; Astrigilda Silveira, President of AULP; and Cristina Montalvão Sarmento, Secretary-General of AULP. They recognised Macao’s crucial role in facilitating exchange in higher education, and expressed the hope that the meeting would help deepen global cooperation and promote the development of a platform for talent exchange between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

(Source: Macao SAR Government, 15 June)