The new campus of the University of Macau (UM) on Hengqin Island is not yet ready as quality inspections still have to be carried out so that students had to start the new term Monday on the old campus in Taipa.
The government-owned university said in a statement it expected the Hengqin campus to be fully operational only next spring.
According to the statement cited by The Macau Post Daily , almost all students will have their classes for the time being in the Taipa campus, as most of the buildings and facilities in the new campus are still under the quality inspection. Some 1,600 students moved into a dormitory in the Hengqin campus late last month.
The one-kilometre-square campus was handed over to Macau government in July when it came under Macau’s jurisdiction so that it now follows local laws and regulations.
In March, Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On said that all the construction on the new campus was almost finished and it was likely that the campus would be ready for the start of the new term in September.
In 2009, the Beijing government approved a plot of land on Hengqin Island, which belongs to the adjacent city of Zhuhai, to be leased to Macau for 50 years to establish a new UM campus which would come under Macau jurisdiction after it was handed over to the local government following its completion.
Construction began in December that year and was completed this July. The new university buildings are currently being decorated and facilities are being installed in the new campus and some equipment is being relocated from the old to the new campus, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, the statement said that the university had admitted 1,520 new students for this academic year, roughly the same as last year. In addition, the UM had received a record number of applications for undergraduate studies, over 9,000, a 21 percent increase from last year.(macaunews)
