Secretary Alexis Tam officiates MUST Congregation 2018
Over 2000 students awarded graduation certificates
Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) held the 2018 Congregation at the University’s indoor gymnasium on June 9, 2018. Dr. Alexis Tam Chon Weng, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao S.A.R. officiated the ceremony. Other guests attending the ceremony include Mr. Hong Bo, Director of the Department of Education and Youth Affairs, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao S.A.R.; Mr. Zhang Jian, Director of the Department of General Affairs, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao S.A.R.; Mr. Teng Sio Hong, Acting Deputy Director of the Tertiary Education Services Office; Dr. Liu Chak Wan, Chancellor of MUST; Chairman Chui Sai Cheong of the Board of Trustees of the MUST Foundation; Professor Zhou Li Gao, Chairman of the University Council; Dr. Tong Chi Kin, Chairman of the Advisory Board of MUST; members of the MUST Foundation; the University Council and the Advisory Board; officials of local government departments; representatives from major enterprises, scholarship patrons, internship institutions, local higher institutions and secondary schools, parents and friends, and faculty members.
President Liu Liang addressed the Congregation; he recalled that only eighteen years ago, our current beautiful campus was just a stretch of open sea. Time flies by, and the world is no longer what it was then. However, what has remained unchanged is MUSTers’ persistence and devotion to inheriting culture, cultivating talents, developing scholarship, and serving the community. This has nurtured the spiritual cores of the University, which lies in continuous self-improvement and unwavering pursuit of excellence. The President encourages the graduates to act on the words of scientist Albert Einstein to work and “try to become a man of value” for a man of value, while working on his own happiness, should also work toward the well-being of his fellow men. He should possess the benevolence to love mankind, his motherland, and the greater society as a whole in the endeavor to become a contributor to and creator for social progress. He should construct a value system and define the meaning of his life in terms of the core values of the excellent culture of the Chinese nation, observing and acting on conscience, gratitude, tolerance, integrity, justice, humility, diligence, self-discipline, and self-control. President Liu wishes that the graduates become great people to demonstrate such desirable qualities.
Chairman Zhou Li Gao of the University Council gave a speech at the ceremony. He brought attention to the fact that human civilization builds and progresses on the accumulated achievements of the predecessors, on whose shoulders new knowledge gets created. As early as when Macau University of Science and Technology was conceived, it has committed to innovation and open-minded approach in training talents, and devoted exuberant passion and practical spirit to campus development. In the course of its 18 years’ history, the University has made impressive achievements in teaching and learning, scientific research and social services, in development of faculty teams and management teams, as well as in campus planning and construction. This has earned the University greater recognitions from the social communities. The Chairman hopes that the graduates bear in mind the University motto, “dedication to practical studies, and enhancement of knowledge, ability and quality”, exert the knowledge and skills they’d learned in the University and strive for new achievements, and hopes that the graduates can take the golden opportunity of a brand-new period of development of the motherland to create a bright future!
Dr. Alexis Tam Chon Weng also delivered a speech at the Congregation, emphasizing that as a key link of the social and cultural sphere, education is both the main route for talent training and the cornerstone for sustainable development in Macau. In the course of eighteen years’ development since the University was established, MUST has made prominent achievements that are well recognized by all communities, in training of talents, improvement of educational quality, and enhancement of academic and social provisions. In April this year, four partner research bases and joint laboratory of the Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education had plaques unveiled at MUST; they will play an active role in training talents for the relevant industries and moving forward discipline development in the relevant areas. The Secretary wishes that MUST builds on existing experience and achievements, explores and reaches out to more academic fields, train more high-quality talents with both moral characters and abilities, and make greater contributions to national advancement and Macau development. Dr. Tam asserted that the Macao S.A.R. Government would continue to provide support for MUST and other institutions to help them make further progresses and enable the University to train young talents with patriotism, awareness of family responsibilities, sense of commitment, and competitiveness, and fulfill a more ideal future. Dr. Tam also gave heartfelt wishes to the graduates, hoping that they could embrace their dreams, learn and act, fear no fears, and work hard to integrate their personal development into the general development of the nation and create a bright future.
Student representatives, Jin Hongyuan, bachelor graduate from Faculty of Information Technology, and Han Xuefang, Bachelor graduate from Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management spoke on behalf of all the graduates in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. They expressed that their education at MUST was embraced by integration of Chinese and western cultures; here at the University they were exposed to far-reaching in-depth knowledge, experienced international events, explored the combination of knowledge and practice, and inherited the spiritual cores of “dedication to practical studies, and enhancement of knowledge, ability and quality”, and they would continue to work hard to achieve higher goals.
For this year, there are over 2,600 undergraduates, master students and doctoral students graduating from the University from Faculty of Information Technology, School of Business, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Faculty of Humanities and Arts, Faculty of Health Sciences, University International College, and the Institute for Social and Cultural Research.
