A total of 25 MGM staff members this year graduated from a high school diploma programme that was tailor-made by the company with Escola Secundária Luso-Chinesa de Luís Gonzaga Gomes under the Macau Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ).
The programme, launched in 2016, was to encourage the company’s local staff members who did not have the opportunity to complete high school education to return to school.
This year, a total of 25 staff members graduated from the programme, making it the largest group of graduates ever since the school started collaborating with local gaming operators.
Among all the graduates, five of them will proceed to study at universities in Macau and mainland China to pursue their bachelor’s degrees.
Escola Secundária Luso-Chinesa de Luís Gonzaga Gomes Director Leong Iao Cheng said that the school was thrilled to see 25 people completing their high school education in just four years.
“This could not have been possible without the hard work our students have put into their studies, even amid the challenges brought by this year’s pandemic,” Leong said, “Many of them graduated with outstanding academic results, and some even chose to continue their studies, which makes us very proud.”
Ng Mei Hong, Supervisor of Casino Operations at MGM, also one of the DSEJ Lotus Awards awardees who will start her bachelor’s programme at Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) this autumn, said that apart from gaining knowledge and enhancing skills, the high school diploma programme has brought her closer to her dream of graduating from university.
“Although having to manage both working and studying in the past four years was not easy, I am glad that I made it through and soon I will be a university student,” Ng said, “In another four years’ time, I hope that I will be putting on a graduation gown and fulfilling my goal of becoming a university graduate.”
The 25 graduates are from Casino Operations and Cage, who all need to work on shifts.
To provide these staff members with greater flexibility to earn their qualifications while working at same time, the curriculum, fully accredited by DSEJ, was taught on-site at MGM Macau, and work schedules were adjusted to accommodate class schedules.
While more than two-thirds of the students graduated with distinctions, three of them have achieved extraordinary academic results with special accolades from DSEJ and Macau Foundation (FM).
Among them, five graduates are going to pursue their bachelor’s degrees starting from this September – four have been accepted by IPM to study Computing and Business Administration in Gaming and Recreation Management, and one has been enrolled to a remote degree programme in Computer Science and Technology offered by the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Sichuan. – mgmpr
MGM staff members pose for a photo recently to celebrate their graduation from the company’s tailor-made High School Diploma Programme. Photo: MGM
