2024 UMAGAZINE 29 • 澳大新語 51 UM’S DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENTS ON HENGQIN ISLAND • 遷校十年 揚帆千里 澳大新校園建造歷時三年多，並於2013年11月啟用。 UM’s new campus, which took more than three years to construct, was inaugurated in November 2013. UM began the construction of its new campus in 2009. After years of intensive construction and relocation efforts, the university finally completed its relocation in 2014. Over the following decade, UM has made every effort to develop this academic space. The university has implemented various measures to improve its teaching facilities, living environment, and administrative efficiency, laying the foundation for its rapid development. Continuously Improving Campus Facilities The original UM campus, which was situated on Taipa Island and founded in 1981 as part of the University of East Asia, the predecessor of UM, covered a modest 0.054 square kilometres. This limited space greatly hindered the university’s development. Recognising this challenge, on 27 June 2009, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China granted the Macao Special Administrative Region jurisdiction over UM’s new campus on Hengqin Island to support Macao’s talent development initiatives. In 2014, with the support of the central and Macao SAR governments, the university relocated to an expansive new site spanning 1.0926 square kilometres. This new campus, 20 times larger than the old one, has significantly expanded the university’s capacity to fulfil its educational aspirations. To create an environment conducive to teaching and research, UM embraced a ‘people-centred’ concept when designing the layout of the new campus. The UM Hengqin campus is divided into four zones: north, south, east, and west, serving the functions of teaching, research, accommodation, and living, respectively. With the relocation, the university’s seven faculties now enjoy expanded teaching and research spaces, and the number of residential colleges has grown from two to ten. This expansion has created favourable conditions for implementing a collaborative educational model that synergises faculties and residential colleges. Moreover, there are various sports venues and activity spaces on the new campus, providing spaces for more than 120 student organisations and university teams in culture, arts, and sports. Many of these cultural and sports facilities are also open to the public. Expanding Academic Research Space UM is dedicated to providing robust research platforms for its academic teams. Over the past decade, the university has significantly expanded its research infrastructure, with research spaces on the campus now exceeding 170,000 square metres, dedicated to research in microelectronics, Internet of Things for smart cities, Chinese medicine, health sciences, applied physics and advanced materials, energy, environmental protection, and data science. Notably, the university has established the Scientific Research Base in the north zone of the campus, which spans more than 120,000 square metres and houses many research buildings. Within the Scientific Research Base, the Medical and Pharmaceutical Testing Building was inaugurated in 2023. This building houses the Macao Centre for Testing of Chinese Medicine, which aims
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzM0NzM2