On 28th June 2021, a delegation of nine members from the Faculty of Education of the University of Macau visited the Faculty of Education of ECNU with the aim of establishing cooperation between the two faculties on the basis of existing exchange programs and further developing specific collaborative projects. The delegation of the University of Macau included: Wang Chuang, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Fan Chun Wai, Assistant Dean (School Engagement and External Relations), Cheung Kwok Cheung, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre, Sze Tat Ming, Programme Coordinator of Post-Graduate Certificate of Education Programme, Wong Sou Kuan, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Education, Chan Kan Kan, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Education, Ching Ho- Hong, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Education, Shieh Jin-Jy, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Education and office staff Lei Chi Hang. Xun Yuan, Executive Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, Zhang Ping, Director of the ECNU’s Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Office, Zhou Bin, Dean of the School of Teacher Education, Yan Hanbing, Dean of the School of Open Learning and Education, Peng Zhengmei, Director of the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Gu Xiaoqing, Head of the Department of Educational Information Technology, Zuo Zhihong, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Department of Pre-school Education, and Qiu Yue, Director of the International Affairs Division of the Faculty of Education received the delegation in Conference Room 401 of the Wenke Building.
Participants at the meeting
The delegation of the Faculty of Education, University of Macau
Participants of the Faculty of Education of ECNU
At the beginning of the meeting, after a brief introduction of the participants by both sides, Xun Yuan, Executive Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, extended a warm welcome to the delegation and showed the overall performance of the Faculty of Education of ECNU, especially its internationalization, through an English publicity video of the faculty. The Dean of the Faculty of Education of the University of Macau, Wang Chuang, also gave an introduction to the recent development of the Faculty of Education, current international exchange programmes, the research situation and the recruitment of overseas teachers. He expressed the hope of strengthening the relationship and cooperation with the Faculty of Education of ECNU to jointly promote the design and implementation of “2+2” undergraduate programs.
Zhang Ping, Director of ECNU’s Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Office, reviewed the cooperation background of two universities since 2009, mainly including the cooperation in the second classroom based on Academy’s talents cultivation and the cooperation in the Centre for Chinese History and Culture at the University of Macau, etc. Afterwards, Zhang Ping introduced the document issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Education earlier this year on strengthening the joint development of dual-degree programmes between universities in the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macau, and hoped that both sides would, on the basis of the previous negotiation between the functional departments of the two universities, develop collaboration in undergraduate “2+2” dual-degree programmes in majors like Chinese, English and preschool education, which listed as the A-level disciplines of ECNU. Subsequently, Zhou Bin, Dean of the School of Teacher Education, Yan Hanbing, Dean of the Faculty of Open Learning and Education, Peng Zhengmei, Director of the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Gu Xiaoqing, Head of the Department of Educational Information Technology, and Zuo Zhihong, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Department of Pre-school Education, made detailed presentations on student cultivation, international cooperation projects, and their individual research interests, and hoped to establish more collaborative projects with the Faculty of Education of the University of Macau. At the same time, the participants also actively put forward constructive suggestions for the “2+2” and “4+2” joint training programmes proposed by the delegation.
During the meeting, Fan Chun Wai, Assistant Dean (School Engagement and External Relations) of the Faculty of Education of the University of Macau, Cheung Kwok Cheung, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre, Sze Tat Ming, Programme Coordinator of Post-Graduate Certificate of Education Programme, Associate Professor Wong Sou Kuan, Assistant Professor Chan Kan Kan, Assistant Professor Ching Ho-Hong and Assistant Professor Shieh Jin-Jy also reviewed their experiences of exchange and cooperation with ECNU in education disciplines and gave presentations on their respective areas of expertise, research directions and projects they had participated in. On the basis of mutual understanding, the participants proposed to carry out various exchanges and collaborations in areas such as teacher training, teacher development, preschool education, educational policy, regional organization, internationalization of higher education, educational technology and curriculum design.
A group photo of participants
After the meeting, the delegation also paid a visit to the School of Teacher Education to have a further discussion with Professor Xu Binyan and Associate Professor Zhu Yan of the Mathematics Education Team about “2+2” joint programme for the undergraduates, research collaboration in mathematics and science education and joint cultivation programmes for doctoral students.
The delegation visits the School of Teacher Education
During the discussion, Wang Chuang, Dean of the Faculty of Education of University of Macau said that one of the urgent tasks they needed to implement was to promote students’ professional abilities and instructional abilities in mathematics. He hoped that from 2023 onwards, 5 students majoring in mathematics education from Macau would be sent to ECNU for two years of undergraduate studies each year. Through the joint cultivation programs, much more high-qualified graduates could be sent to serve local primary and secondary education in Macau. Professor Xu Binyan and Associate Professor Zhu Yan of the School of Teacher Education further put forward constructive suggestions about the programme based on the analysis of the discipline development, curriculum construction and talents training mode of both sides. They also hoped to extend the existing research cooperation between two sides’ scholars to co-instruction and joint training of students and expressed their warm welcome to undergraduate and postgraduate students from Macau to ECNU for exchange studies.
Formerly known as the private University of East Asia, established in 1981, the University of Macau is the first research university and the only comprehensive public university in Macau Special Administration Region. The University of Macau is one of the closely collaborating sister universities of ECNU. The two universities have carried out substantial projects in student exchange, the Ten Thousand Students Programme, discipline co-construction since a collaborative partnership was established in 2009.
Source: International Affairs Division of the Faculty of Education