City University of Macau Awarded Research Grants by the Tertiary Education Services Office of the Macao SAR for the First Time
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The major regional and national research base of our University, Institute for Research on Portuguese-speaking Countries, has successfully applied for Specialized Subsidy Scheme for Training for Bilingual Talents of Chinese and Portuguese Languages and Cooperation of Education and Research for Macau Higher Education Institution offered by the Tertiary Education Services Office (GAES) of the Macao SAR for its thematic study “East-Timor in Transition and the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative”. This is the first time the University has been awarded research grants by the GAES, representing a breakthrough in expanding external research funding sources. For many years, the University has been upholding the principle of “Featured Education” and is committed to promoting research on Portuguese-speaking countries. The Institute for Research on Portuguese-speaking Countries started to admit postgraduate students for Portuguese-speaking countries programs in 2017 and has since then adopted an approach of teacher-student cooperation to conduct research on topics related to Macao and “Belt and Road” initiatives, and on Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. At the same time, the University places emphasis on promoting economic and cultural cooperation and exchange between Macao and East Timor. In September 2016, Chairman of University Council, Dr Chan Meng Kam, Vice Chairman of University Council, Prof Yan Zexian, Rector, Prof Shu Guang Zhang and other delegates visited Dili, East Timor and were warmly received by local government and higher education institutions. Afterwards, a delegation led by the Department of Trade, Industry and Environment of East Timor visited the University. Both have been striving to promote social, economic and cultural exchange between the two places and working in concert to promote academic development and quality education. In view of this, when the Macao SAR Government set up a specific subsidy scheme in order to develop Macao into a Chinese-Portuguese bilingual talent nurturing base, the University submitted an application with the topic “East-Timor in Transition and the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative” with an aim to leveraging its strengths in research to work on studies of East Timor issues. East Timor is an island nation in South East Asia. Although it has a population of just over one million, it has abundant resources and is situated between Asia and Australia, giving it unique geopolitical advantages. As a member of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao), East Timor is also an important country along “Belt and Road”. Therefore, conducting a study on East-Timor in Transition and the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative has a far-reaching academic significance and practical values. It is conducive to achieving our goals of serving society and playing a significant role as a think tank of regional economic development. It is also an important academic topic in promoting Macao’s participation in the construction of “Belt and Road” and developing a commerce and trade services platform for China and Portuguese–speaking countries.
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