The government-appointed Youth Affairs Committee, chaired by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, held yesterday its second plenary meeting of the year at the bureau on topics including the planning of a raft of activities to reinforce young people’s understanding of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, the preparations of next month’s Student and Youth Show & International Youth Dance Festival, and the bureau’s mainland internship programme for local higher education students.
Reinforcing young students’ understanding of cooperation zone
According to a post-press briefing at the DSEDJ headquarters in Nam Van, Chio Pou Wai, acting chief of the bureau’s Youth Development Division, briefed his fellow committee members, including DSEDJ Director Kong Chi Meng, during the meeting about how the young students would be able to gain a deeper understanding of the development of key industries in line with the government’s “1+4” development strategy aiming for appropriate economic diversification, such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and artificial intelligence (AI), in both the Macau and the in-depth cooperation zone, by co-organising study tours to the zone, updating the students on sci-tech development in Macau and Hengqin, as well as organising internship programmes in the mainland and fact-finding trips there, apart from promoting education-sector cooperation and industry-university-research development, deepening cooperation and diversified exchanges between the two places in various fields, and cultivating more outstanding young talents who are “loving the country and loving Macau”.
Chio added during the press briefing: “Regarding the study tour to the in-depth cooperation zone jointly organised by the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) and the zone’s Livelihood Affairs Bureau, as of last month, the pilot project had arranged for over 1,800 F4 students from 15 schools to visit enterprises involving the four key industries, namely, TCM, big health and high-tech as well as conventions and exhibitions including culture and sports. The project will be implemented once again in the next school year, with F4 students continuing as the main target group.”
Student and Youth Show & Int’l Youth Dance Festival
Cheong Man Fai, who heads the bureau’s Youth Department, said, according to the press briefing, that taking advantage of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1 and the 25th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland on December 20, the bureau is organising a Student and Youth Show & International Youth Dance Festival to bring together “international friends” to experience the good atmosphere of the successful implementation of “One Country, Two Systems” policy in Macau. Cheong said during the press briefing: “This year, due to the double celebrations, we are combining these two events, sharing resources and adding to the atmosphere of the festival… We have invited 15 teams from outside Macau with more than 300 people, together with about 700 local teachers and students, and more than 300 people from local dance teams to perform, totalling nearly 1,200 people, who will start all kinds of activities in the second half of July.” Cheong added that preparatory work was now underway and that more details would be revealed at a press conference in due course.
Mainland internship programme for Macau higher education students
With the aim of enabling local students studying outside Macau to get to know and experience the employment situation of different professions, to broaden their interpersonal network, and to attract them to return to Macau for their career development, while also enriching local students’ summer vacation, the bureau provides various internship programmes, as well as different types of exchange and training activities for local tertiary education students studying in Macau or outside the city, such as the ongoing Mainland Internship Programme for Macau Higher Education Students, according to Cheong, who noted that this year’s internship programme offers about 470-odd places, mostly in the “1+4” key industries.
The Education and Youth Development Bureau’s (DSEDJ) Youth Department Chief Cheong Man Fai (centre) and Youth Development Division Acting Chief Chio Pou Wai (left) as well as Io Iok Fong, the functional head of the DSEDJ Youth Department, host a post-press briefing after yesterday’s closed-door plenary meeting of the government-appointed Youth Affairs Committee at the bureau. – Photo: Yuki Lei
