The University of Macau (UM) is hosting its 38th Portuguese Language Summer Programme, with this year’s edition being joined by 342 participants.
The on-campus opening ceremony was held yesterday to kick off the programme, which will last until July 26. Most of the programme’s participants are from the mainland, while 59 are from Macau, six from South Korea, four from Hong Kong and one from Vietnam.
In his speech, UM Vice Rector Prof. Rui Martins said: “I have been witnessing the development of this programme throughout the years and I’m glad that the interest of students in Asia is growing”.
The summer programme features language courses offered at four different levels, theme-based courses that cover topics related to Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) and evening cultural clubs. The programme’s Coordinator and Department of Portuguese Senior Instructor Vitor Silva told reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s event that there are 18 teachers working in 17 classes. They come from Portugal, Macau, and the mainland.
Concerning the number of students, Silva said that “it changed a lot”, noting that there used to be almost 500 students before the COVID-19 pandemic, but acknowledged that everything takes time to get back to normal.
Moreover, Silva told the Post that although some might join the programme because they just want to learn a new language, others might be learning the language for the purpose of working in places such as Brazil and Africa in areas not just related to business and trading but also to areas such as diplomacy.
Portuguese Language Summer Programme Coordinator and Department of Portuguese Senior Instructor Vitor Silva speaks to reporters on the sidelines of the programme’s UM on-campus opening ceremony yesterday. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
