To strengthen academic partnerships between City University of Macau (CityU) and mainland universities while exploring new pathways for educational innovation and international development, a delegation led by Rector Jun Liu, accompanied by Vice Rectors Zhou Wanlei and Ip Kui Peng, visited Beijing on yesterday. The delegation conducted deep exchanges with Minzu University of China (MUC) and Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), focusing on talent cultivation, scientific research collaboration, and cultural exchange. The visits aimed to explore pathways for breakthroughs in educational innovation, disciplinary development, and internationalization, contributing to the initiative of “building a leading country in education” and regional socioeconomic growth through Beijing-Macao higher education cooperation, while injecting new momentum into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA)’s educational development. Accompanying officials included Kathy Che Ka I, director of the Rector’s Office, and Wu Cheng, head of Office of Global Affairs.
Visiting MUC
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The CityU delegation received a warm reception from MUC’s leadership team including Qiang Shigong, deputy party secretary and president, along with vice presidents Shi Yazhou and Wang Zhi. Discussions centered on institutional visions, discipline development, joint academic platform construction, and collaborative education programs.
President Qiang Shigong highlighted MUC’s recent achievements in advancing ethnic studies, discipline development in science and technology, and international cooperation. President Qiang emphasized MUC’s commitment to establishing China’s independent ethnology knowledge system and advancing research on development a sense of community for the Chinese nation, expressing aspirations for collaborative initiatives with CityU in Chinese cultural heritage preservation, global ethnic studies, and country- and region-specific studies.
Rector Jun Liu underscored Macao’s unique advantages as “one center, one platform, one base,” while presenting CityU’s progress in emerging disciplines including artificial intelligence (AI), digital humanities, and financial technology. He proposed deepened collaboration in promoting Chinese culture, country- and region-specific studies, and advanced humanities empowered by AI.
Both sides explored cooperation in faculty exchanges, student exchange programs, and joint research projects. Building upon their established collaboration through the joint program project at MUC’s Hainan International College, both sides agreed to expand enrollment and jointly promote frontier disciplines such as AI.
Other attendees included Ma Guowei, director of the Office of the President; Shi Song, director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office and deputy head of the Office of International Relations; Lu Yixu, vice present and part secretary of Hainan International College; Weng Yu, dean of School of Information Engineering; Tian Feilong, director of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Research Center and associate dean of Law School and etc.
Visiting BIT
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On the same day, Vice Rectors Zhou Wanlei and Ip Kui Peng led a delegation to visit Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), where they were warmly received by Vice President Wei Yiming. The two sides held discussions on disciplinary development, scientific research collaboration, and talent cultivation.
Vice President Wei Yiming introduced BIT’s history, disciplinary strengths, and achievements in international cooperation. As a top-tier science and engineering university in China, BIT has demonstrated significant advantages in national defense technology, cyberspace security, AI, and other fields. In recent years, it has also achieved notable progress in its strategic initiatives within the GBA.
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Vice Rectors Zhou Wanlei and Ip Kui Peng shared CityU’s interdisciplinary development model underpinned by AI, highlighting its distinctive strengths in data science, information security, and research on Portuguese-speaking countries.
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Both sides acknowledged the high complementarity between the two institutions in talent cultivation, scientific collaboration, and internationalization. They proposed establishing joint laboratories and high-level research platforms in areas such as cyberspace security, AI, cross-border data flow, and country- and region-specific studies focusing on Portuguese-speaking countries, with the aim of advancing the transformation of research outcomes.
Going forward, both sides hope to leverage the geographical advantages of BIT Zhuhai campus to explore innovative models for talent development. CityU and BIT plan to jointly design curriculum and training programs in AI, capitalizing on their respective academic strengths and regional resources to cultivate urgently needed professionals in the field.
Also attending the meeting were Zhu Liehuang, party secretary of School of Cyberspace Science and Technology, along with Zhao Kun and Peng Shu, deputy directors of Office of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs.
