English-medium Higher Education at the University of Macau

1
English-medium Higher Education at the University
of Macau

• Andrew Moody
• University of Macau
• amoody_at_umac.mo

2
Description of Macao

• Macao Special Administrative Region
• Was a colony of Portugal until 4 December 1999
  when it became an SAR of China
• Approximately 60 km Southwest of Hong Kong
• 28.2 square km
• 488,144 residents

Source Statistics and Census Service of Macau
3
Macaos Economy

• Approximately 49 of the 2005 GDP is from gaming
  revenues
• Gaming revenues increased by 55 from 2003 to
  2005
• GDP has increased by 46 from 2003 to 2005
• Visitors to Macao increased by 58 from 2003 to
  2005
• 70 growth of personal investment in 2005 from
  previous year

Source Statistics and Census Service of Macau
4
Official LanguagesChapter 1, Article 9 of the
Basic Law

• ????????????????,??????,??????,?????????
• Além da língua chinesa, poda usar-se também a
  língua portuguesa nos órgãos executivo,
  legislativo e judiciais de Região Administrativa
  Especial de Macau, sendo também o português
  língua oficial.

Source The Basic Law of the Macao SAR
5
Official Languages

• In addition to the Chinese language, Portuguese
  may also be used as an official language by the
  executive authorities, legislature and judiciary
  of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Source The Basic Law of the Macao SAR
6
Macao Schools--2005

• 66 primary schools
• 6 Government
• 52 Private (subsidised)
• 8 Private (not subsidised)
• 58 secondary schools
• 3 Government
• 33 Private (subsidised)
• 10 Private (not subsidised)

Source Education Youth Affairs Bureau of Macao
7
Macao School Units--2005
Source Education Youth Affairs Bureau of Macao
8
Medium of Instruction
Source Education Youth Affairs Bureau of Macao
9
Number of Students in the Three Mediums of
Instruction
1989 1996
Chinese 60,600 80,000
Portuguese 3,500 4,000
English 4,150 12,000
Trilingual 1,000
Total 68,250 97,000
Source Berlie (1999)
10
Number of Students in the Three Mediums of
Instruction
1996 2006
Chinese 80,000 79,041
Portuguese 4,000 891
English 12,000 12,322
Total 96,000 92,254
Source Education Youth Affairs Bureau of Macao
11
Higher Education Institutes

1. University of Macau
2. Macao Polytechnic Institute
3. Institute for Tourism Studies
4. Macau Security Force Superior School
5. Asian International Open University (Macau)
6. Inter-University Institute

12
Higher Education Institutes

1. Kiang Wu Nursing College
2. Macau University of Science and Technology
3. Macau Institute of Management
4. Macau Mellennium College

13
Research Institutions

1. Instituto de Estudos Europeus de Macau
2. Universidade das Nacões Unidas Instituto
   Internacional da Software e Technologia

14
History of the University of Macau

• Opened in 1981 as the University of East Asia.
• Was originally owned by a private Hong Kong
  corporation.
• First programmes were in business, but teacher
  training programmes added in 1987.

15
History of the University of Macau

• The University was acquired by the Macao
  Foundation of the Macao Government and renamed
  The University of Macau (Universidade de
  Macau/????)
• Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Business
  Administration, Faculty of Science and
  Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences

16
History of the University of Macau

• School of Education was added in 1989.
• Department of Portuguese opened in 1990.
• Faculty of Law Established in 1991.
• Bachelor of Law in Chinese Language was launched
  in 1996

17
Profile of the University of Macau

• 55 of teaching staff were recruited from abroad.
• If staff members acquire residency, they are
  still counted as recruited from abroad.
• This includes staff recruited from Hong Kong or
  the Mainland of China
• 1 of non-teaching staff were recruited from
  abroad.

18
Profile of the University of Macau
All programmes are conducted in the medium of
English, with the following exceptions

• Faculty of Education--Chinese (English Education
  in Chinese/English)
• Faculty of Law--Law in Portuguese Language in
  Portuguese
• Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
• Chinese Language and Literature--Chinese
• Japanese Studies--Japanese
• Journalism and Public Communications--Chinese
• Portuguese Language and Culture--Portuguese
• Portuguese Studies--Portuguese

19
Profile of the University of Macau

• English is an examination subject for every
  undergraduate degree programme at the university.
• There are two tests in English--reading writing
  and an oral interview. Some programmes require
  both, while others only require English reading
  writing.

20
Current Enrolment Figures
Doctoral Programmes Doctoral Programmes 59
Masters Degree Programmes Masters Degree Programmes 1251
Postgraduate Certificates Postgraduate Certificates 128
Bachelors Degree Programmes Business Administration 1660
Bachelors Degree Programmes Education 427
Bachelors Degree Programmes Law 445
Bachelors Degree Programmes Social Sciences Humanities 1396
Bachelors Degree Programmes Science Technology 471
Bachareleto Bachareleto 46
Others Others 396
Total Total 6279
21
Two Support Centres

• Centre for Pre-University Studies (CPU)
• offers instruction in a wide variety of
  disciplines
• designed as an extra year of secondary studies
  for students from schools with only 5 years of
  secondary
• often chosen as by students who have not had
  English-medium secondary instruction

• English Language Centre (ELC)
• offers ESL and ESP instruction for the University
• courses may be designed for generic use, or
  specific to a particular faculty's needs
• courses may fulfil programme requirements or be
  taken as electives

22
Methodology for Examining Policy Implementation

1. Examination of anonymous student comments on
   bulletin boards and blogs.
2. Questionnaire survey of practices within the
   various faculties.