The University of Macau (UM) said in a statement yesterday that in accordance with the guidelines of the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), it has decided that in-person classes will resume on September 15, while online classes will continue until September 14.
According to the statement, for returning students, according to the government’s COVID-19 prevention and control guidelines, all students are required to return to their place of residence in Macau, Zhuhai and Zhongshan 14 days prior to the resumption of in-class teaching, i.e., non-residential students need to return to their place of residence on or before next Tuesday. The statement also said that UM students who reside in the residential colleges or the Postgraduate House are required to return to the campus on or before next Tuesday.
Moreover, in alignment with the government’s COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control guidelines, if the student or his/her co-resident visited areas other Macau, Zhuhai or Zhongshan after August 6, he or she must undergo a nucleic acid test (NAT) and obtain a negative result before the resumption of classroom teaching.
The statement noted that the university started its new semester on August 18 but due to the current novel coronavirus pandemic, the classes have been conducted online.
Addressing Monday’s press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Deputy Director Kong Chi Meng announced that the city’s non-tertiary education institutions, namely schools and kindergartens, will start their new academic year on September 1 as scheduled, while higher education institutions can resume in-class teaching from September 6, provided that Macau’s COVID-19 situation “does not have any major changes”.
Kong also said that the “Education and Youth Development Bureau has constantly been paying close attention to COVID-19 prevention and control measures for the upcoming new academic year, because of which it has been maintaining close communication with the Health Bureau in dynamically assessing the local and mainland’s latest COVID-19 developments”.
