Dean in Macau taking part in 3rd university forum between two countries
The dean of the University of Lisbon in Macau today has said that the number of Chinese postgraduates at the higher education institution is increasing, which means that Portuguese language training in China is of high quality.
“More and more Chinese students are going on to do their masters and doctorates. That’s a good sign,” Luís Manuel dos Anjos Ferreira told journalists, on the sidelines of the 3rd Forum of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions in China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
In other words, these students are no longer in Portugal to learn the language; they are at a more advanced level, developing studies in areas such as Literature or Translation.
According to a compilation released by Macau Polytechnic University academic Manuel Duarte João Pires, 51 higher education institutions offered Portuguese language programmes in China in 2022. In Macau, there are five universities with Portuguese language programmes.
According to the dean, in addition to students from China who opt for more advanced degrees at the University of Lisbon, “a huge number” of Chinese students are also enrolled in Portuguese language summer courses at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
“We get 200 to 300 students at that time. They start appearing at the end of May, June, July, and August, which shows the demand for the Portuguese language and for learning Portuguese,” he said.
Regarding the development of new technologies in translation, he acknowledged that people are still needed in this “transitional phase” with “new automatic and simultaneous translation systems”.
“To communicate, we need to look each other in the eye, move our hands, make a series of gestures that we can read in others and that the machine can never make, as well as mistakes that it will continue to make, even though, with this modern technology, we are getting better every day. But this is easier to do in texts and relatively restricted areas, such as a research project, than in interpersonal relationships,” he said.
Today, the University of Lisbon signed a memorandum of understanding with the City University of Macau for student exchanges.
Luís Anjos Ferreira pointed out that the institution is also linked to other schools of higher education in China, highlighting the University of Macau, Macau Polytechnic University and Shanghai University.
LUSA
