The government will grant a land concession to the private City University of Macau (CityU) earmarked for the construction of a new campus because of which it will relocate from its current campus, which is situated on a part of the public University of Macau’s (UM) former campus in Taipa, to its future campus, according to a statement by the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) yesterday.
The statement did not identify the plot.
According to the statement, the City University of Macau will pay for the construction of its new campus. After its relocation to the future campus, the private university will revert all facilities on its current Taipa campus to the government free of charge.
After the UM was fully relocated to its current one-square-kilometre Hengqin campus in 2014, the buildings and facilities on its former campus located on a hill area of Taipa island have been shared by three universities, namely the public Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM), the public Macao Polytechnic University (MPU), and the private City University of Macau (CityU).
While the IFTM and the MPU each currently have their main campus on the Macau peninsula, the Taipa campus is the main campus of the CityU, which is currently still running its classrooms in a number of commercial buildings on the Macau peninsula.
The UM’s current campus is situated in an area of Zhuhai’s Hengqin island. The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) is exercising jurisdiction over the area, which has been leased from Zhuhai.
After the CityU has applied to the government to grant a concession of a plot earmarked for its new campus, the construction costs of which will be fully borne by the university, the MSAR government and the CityU yesterday signed an agreement on the matter, the statement said.
According to the statement, the accord was signed by DSEDJ Director Kong Chi Meng and a senior CityU representative.
The new campus aims to support the CityU’s long-term and stable development in the future, the statement said.
Macau currently has 10 higher education institutions, comprising four public and six private ones.
In addition to the UM, IFTM and MPU, the other public higher education institution is the Macau Public Security Forces Academy (ESFSM).
The statement said that after the CityU’s relocation to its future campus, its current facilities on the Taipa campus will be transferred to public higher education institutions for their respective expansion and development projects, particularly IFTM.
The statement did not mention MPU.
The statement noted that IFTM will be upgraded to a university, which, according to a bill whose second and final debate and article-by-article vote is scheduled to be held during a plenary session of the legislature next week, will take effect on April 1.
The statement said that IFTM will continue to expand its enrolment.
Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Director Kong Chi Meng (right) and Chan Sin Man, a representative of the Foundation of City University of Macau, the entity that owns and runs the private City University of Macau, pose for photos at the bureau’s headquarters in Nam Van after signing the agreement yesterday. – Photo: DSEDJ
