A new agreement aims to enhance the collaboration between UTM and IPOR that began under UTM’s predecessor in 1998. Over the years, the partnership has focused on the learning of the Portuguese language, involving IPOR teachers delivering courses at UTM
UTM and Instituto Português do Oriente (IPOR) in Macao have signed a cooperation agreement to enhance a long-standing relationship that dates back to 1998. Since that time, IPOR has been providing courses on the Portuguese language to students of UTM. The new arrangement aims to enhance academic and cultural exchanges between the two parties.
The protocol was officially signed on 9 July at the Mong-Há Campus by Dr. Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan, Rector of UTM, and Dra. Patrícia Ribeiro, Director of IPOR.
IPOR highly values its collaboration with UTM, as IPOR has been working closely with various local tertiary education institutions and Government departments in Macao to offer Portuguese-language courses to the Macao community, Dra. Ribeiro stated. Her comments were on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
“This collaboration with UTM is very important, and we have been working together for a long time,” she noted.
According to the IPOR Director, her organisation typically supplies six to nine teachers to teach elementary Portuguese courses at UTM. The number of UTM students enrolling on these courses has ranged from 500 to 600 per academic year in recent years. Those who have reached the proficiency level set via the courses delivered at UTM can opt for further studies by direct enrolment at IPOR’s premises in Macao.
IPOR was established in Macao in 1989 as a non-profit entity, by the Orient Foundation and the Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, the latter with links to the Portuguese state. IPOR’s mission is to promote Portuguese language and culture in Macao and other places in Asia, while facilitating exchange and cooperation between Portugal and Macao.
Currently, IPOR offers Portuguese-language teaching on five levels, based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), ranging from A1 (beginner) to C1 (advanced).
After promoting in Macao for some years the Portuguese language – one of the two official languages of the Special Administrative Region – Dra. Ribeiro said she has observed a growing interest in Portuguese among UTM students. “The number of students learning Portuguese has been growing since 2020, and we hope this number can continue to increase,” she stated.
More areas for collaboration
Given the diverse accents and dialects of Portuguese, including in European Portuguese and in Brazilian Portuguese, Dra. Ribeiro emphasised that IPOR equips students with the knowledge to discern these nuances. “Pluricentricism is very important nowadays when we learn Portuguese,” she noted.
IPOR’s courses not only cover the European form of Portuguese but also the Brazilian and Angolan variations, enabling participants to appreciate the linguistic and cultural differences, she highlighted. This comprehensive approach prepares students interested in visiting a variety of places across the lusophone world or in interacting with people from those places.
Building upon the successful partnership in the past two decades, UTM and IPOR will continue to explore new areas of collaboration. “We believe [this new cooperation agreement] opens doors to different types of collaboration, not only for teaching Portuguese but also for other areas like cultural activities and research between IPOR and UTM,” Dra. Ribeiro said.
Potential areas for joint research may concern Portuguese culture in Macao, more effective ways for Chinese speakers to learn Portuguese, and other relevant topics, she added.
Editor: UTM Public Relations Team
