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Schooling for tomorrow

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A few years ago, as casinos offered increasingly higher salaries for dealers, many feared students would be lured from higher education and Macau would become an uneducated society.  

Today though, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as there are more university enrolments and graduates, and more higher-educated employees in the workforce than ever before. Macau has 10 institutions for higher learning and over one hundred schools providing primary, secondary and vocational studies, the majority of which are part of the city’s free education system.  And increasingly it is becoming a destination for foreign students, particularly from the mainland.  

Nonetheless there is a lot still to be done to lift the standard of education in Macau and produce the quality graduates that the city’s booming economy needs.  This month we look at just some of the developments taking place in education, in a city that truly needs to be smart about its future. 

LEARNING CURVE 

Macau’s education system is improving but there’s still a long way to go   Macau hasn’t been getting a very good grade in terms of education lately. A report released recently by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) points out that public spending on education has failed to keep up with Macau’s economic growth. In addition, the share of wealth channeled towards education is one of the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.    

The government spent almost MOP4.5 billion on education last year, but this figure is less than 2.1 percent of the total wealth created in the territory – Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached MOP217.3 billion in 2011. In 2000, the first full year after the handover, government spending on education was equivalent to 3.7 percent of GDP.     

Although Macau has one of the highest GDP per capita figures in the world (MOP414,444 in 2010) this is not reflected in education investment. Only four countries in the region – Mainland China and Azerbaijan (1.9 percent), Cambodia (1.6 percent) and Myanmar (1.3 percent) – spend a smaller share of their GDP on public education.    

Nonetheless, almost 20 percent of the local population is still at school. According to the Education and Youth Bureau, there are more than 72,000 students enrolled in the 78 registered official and private institutions for primary and secondary education. At the 10 colleges and universities in the city, there are more than 32,000 undergraduate students – half of them are non-local.    

Interestingly, the City University of Macau, an institution that exclusively offers distance and online learning, is number one in terms of enrolments for higher education in Macau, with almost 10,000 freshmen, data from the Tertiary Education Services Office indicates.   

According to Sou Chio Fai, director of the Tertiary Education Services Office, the percentage of high schools leavers proceeding to higher education is high. “It reaches about 90 percent of students, of which 55 percent keep studying in Macau and the remainder go overseas,” he points out.   

Of the 26,000 students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in Macau, around one-third of them are from overseas. In 2010, 72,000 people in the labour force, or 23 percent, had received higher education. Before the handover, that number was under 23,000 people.   

However, quantity does not necessarily mean quality. The lack of standardization in teaching curriculums creates different expectations and huge gaps among students graduating from different institutions.    

Gertina J. van Schalkwyk, acting head of the Department of Psychology and an expert on education matters at the University of Macau, points out that the considerably high figure of local high school graduates who get into university reflects the fact that in Macau there is an “automatic entry system”, in which competition does not really matter.   

“It’s unheard of anywhere else in the world. Many students we see at university level do not have enough abilities to benefit from learning in higher education institutions. Of course this is a problem that is part of a major concern: a lack of quality secondary schools. It’s amazing how students can graduate from high school without even knowing basic technologies or having basic language skills,” says the associate professor.   

Another critical point referred to in the OECD report is the high rate of failure in high schools in Macau. One in three students at the age of 15 did not gain a pass grade last year.    

Such figures are unfavorable to local students. Professor van Schalkwyk believes that the market, once it becomes aware of the lack of expertise of graduates from certain institutions, will play a critical role in demanding greater standardization of higher-level qualifications. Only when employers start ignoring students from certain institutions, will the system acknowledge the need for improvement.    “There is an indiscriminate acceptance rate for undergraduates from some institutions in Macau. However, we don’t see any serious concerns yet since local students can easily find a job after graduation irrespective of their proficiency levels,” observes van Schalkwyk.   

On a positive note, the quality of the teaching environment seems to be improving. Local schools are giving priority to smaller class sizes in order to stimulate a closer relationship between teachers and learners.    

“Increasingly there are very good conditions for teachers to work in. We can manage to handle several classes of the same subject and interact with smaller groups, which is very positive for enhancing quality,” says van Schalkwyk.   

The increasing number of post-graduate students is also a positive sign. The Ph.D. population totaled 631 in the academic year of 2011/2012, almost 40 times the number from ten years ago.    

“This phenomenon indicates that higher education in Macau is shifting from teaching-oriented to teaching-research-balanced. The research capability is undoubtedly increasing,” highlights Sou Chio Fai.    

Change is always hard. Although the government has announced the implementation of a revised curricular framework for the 2015/2016 academic year at the primary level, which intends to make the Macau education system more competitive in comparison with neighboring regions, the way forward remains long and difficult.   

Van Schalkwyk criticizes the lack of openness to new developments in teaching and learning and the often narrow focus of some courses that limit students from “thinking outside the box”.    

“Foreign expertise has not been used adequately to improve the system. It’s a waste of effort, because the results of researchers’ work are not acknowledged,” says van Schalkwyk.    

The academic also recognises the importance of introducing new teaching methods. The attempt is to move away from a passive learning experience to an active one, which requires the involvement and participation of students during sessions.    

“We are moving towards a new way of teaching and learning. If we fight against new technologies students are willing to use during class, we will lose. It is the role of educators to find new ways to transmit contents, incorporating tools that have never been used before.”   

When the University of Macau’s new campus is ready next year, the public institution will serve as an example of interactivity in the classroom. The era of ‘be quiet and listen’ may see its end. The classrooms will be equipped with the next generation of teaching platforms, that could even allow absent students to participate in lectures by videoconference.    

“Change depends much on people. If everyone can contribute, we could see our educational system moving forward towards international recognition,” emphasizes van Schalkwyk. 

HENGQING LEARNING 

The University of Macau’s new campus on Hengqin Island is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It is considered to be a landmark not only for the history of higher education, but also for Macau itself – as Hengqin is the new symbol of Macau-Guangdong cooperation.   

The land for the new campus will cover more than 1 square kilometer – which is 20 times bigger than the current campus. The construction represents an investment of RMB6 billion.   

The University of Macau’s Rector Wei Zhao says the new campus will symbolize a new age not only for the university, but also for the Macau SAR. “We also need to consider adding new programs and capabilities, so the university can serve Macau better.”    

These new programs and capabilities include a new faculty of health sciences.   But it’s the students’ lifestyle that will be truly revolutionized.    

“We will have twelve residential colleges, and campus activities will become a big deal. At this moment, we don’t have a sizeable campus to do that,” notes Wei. 

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