Founded in 1981, the University of Macau (UM) is the only internationalized public comprehensive university in Macao, with a modern governance model. 80% of its faculty members are from outside Macao. With English as the main medium of instruction, the university is committed to producing creative and socially responsible graduates with a global mindset and international competitiveness.
Teaching units at UM include:
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities,
- Faculty of Business Administration,
- Faculty of Education,
- Faculty of Health Sciences,
- Faculty of Law,
- Faculty of Social Sciences,
- Faculty of Science and Technology,
- Honours College,
- Graduate School,
- Centre for Continuing Education.
Research institutes include:
- Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences,
- Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering,
- Institute of Collaborative Innovation,
- Institute of Microelectronics,
- Centre for Macau Studies,
- Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management, and
- Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Currently, there are more than 12, 500 students at UM. For undergraduate students, the university provides a unique "4-in-1" education, which consists of discipline-specific education, general education, research and internship education, and community and peer education. Adopting a credit system and a collegiate system, the university offers around 130 degree programmes at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels, covering a variety of fields, including literature, language, business administration, marketing, accounting, finance, international integrated resort management, science, education, biomedical science, law, history, economics, psychology, sociology, communication, engineering, computer science, and Chinese medical sciences. Many academic programmes at UM have received international accreditations, namely AACSB Accreditation, AMBA Accreditation, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) Accreditation, etc.
UM is ranked no. 254 in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2024, where "international faculty ratio" is ranked no. 21 and "citations per faculty" is amongst the no. 97 in the World. UM is also ranked no. 101 in QS Asia University Rankings 2023. In addition, UM is ranked in 8 subjects in QS Subject Rankings:
- Hospitality & Leisure Management #51-100
- Linguistics #151-200
- Education and Training #251-300
- English Language and Literature #251-300
- Psychology #301-330
- Sociology #301-340
- Mathematics #501-530
- Medicine #501-550
In addition, UM is also among the top 1% in Essential Sciences Indicators (ESI) rankings in eleven subjects, namely Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Materials Science, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Psychiatry/Psychology, Biology & Biochemistry, Clinical Medicine, Social Sciences, General, Economics & Business and Agricultural Sciences.
An International University
UM is an international university with a multicultural campus. It adopts a modern governance model and recruits faculty members internationally. 80 per cent of its faculty members are from outside Macao. The fact that English is the main medium of instruction at UM has attracted outstanding students from around the world, which in turn has created a vibrant, multicultural campus. The university constantly expands its international network and actively builds new platforms for international collaboration in order to broaden the students’ horizons. It has established collaboration agreements with more than 250 institutions of higher learning in over 30 countries and regions. UM students can choose from over 150 institutions around the world for exchange programmes or overseas studies. The university also provides students with many internship opportunities, both local and overseas, in order to enhance their employability upon graduation.
Cutting-edge Research
UM adopts a research policy that can be summarised as ‘highlighting characteristics, leveraging strengths, creating peaks, and strengthening cooperation’, with a focus on supporting academic disciplines that reflect Macao’s characteristics, meet the needs of Macao and the country, and are in line with international trends. UM has established a strategic ‘3+3+3+3’ research blueprint, with the four ‘3s’ referring to three state key laboratories (State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, and State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City), three emerging research fields (precision medicine, advanced materials, and regional oceanology), three interdisciplinary research fields (cognitive and brain sciences, data science, artificial intelligence and robotics), and three research platforms for the humanities and social sciences (Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Centre for Macao Studies, and Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management). The university encourages interdisciplinary collaboration, especially the integration of modern technology in humanities and social sciences.
At the same time, UM is strengthening entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer to enhance the social impact of its research results. Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute was the first industry-academia collaboration demonstration base established by UM and UMTEC Limited in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) for this very purpose. The institute is a hub of cooperation between Zhuhai and Macao in building an international science and technology innovation centre in the GBA. It relies on the research strengths of the three state key laboratories and institutes with competitive disciplines to integrate into the GBA and participate in national research projects, promote technology transfer, and foster emerging industries. In addition, UM faculty and students have established more than 30 companies to facilitate technology transfer. The university’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has obtained approval to serve as a national co-working space, showing full recognition of the university’s efforts in industry-academia collaboration.
According to statistics from the Web of Science (WOS), the number of papers published by UM scholars in high-impact journals increased from 77 in 2007 to over 2, 000 in 2020, with over 42, 000 citations in 2020. Chip research is a key research area at UM. Chip researchers at UM aim to develop analogue and mixed-signal integrated circuits and systems, and to establish advanced research and development platforms. They have received a second prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. At the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, the university was ranked second in the world in terms of the number of papers accepted by the conference, next only to Intel. Chinese medicine is another signature research area at UM. Researchers in this field focus on the quality of Chinese medicine and international standards. They have received a second prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award, international invention gold awards for innovative Chinese medicine products, and more than 40 special science and technology awards in Macao.
