Dr. Liu Chak Wan, Chancellor of Macau University of Science and Technology, and President Liu Liang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, led the university management and scientific research specialists on a visit to Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng on the 20th of August. The two parties exchanged views on the development orientations of M.U.S.T. and the local higher education sector of Macao, on the promotion of the industrialization of Chinese medicine, and on scientific and research work for control and prevention of COVID-19.
M.U.S.T. Management Visiting Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng
Chief Executive Ho remarked that it’s been 20 years since Macau University of Science and Technology was founded. The University has been growing in sync with the Macao S.A.R. As a non-profit private university, M.U.S.T. has grown to a substantial scale and made impressive achievements in education.
Chancellor Liu Chak Wan expressed thanks to the Macao S.A.R. Government for its support to M.U.S.T. over the past 20 years and expressed hopes that M.U.S.T. could engage in further partnership with the other universities in Macao to share resources, propel complementary development and join forces to make greater contributions for Macao. He also pointed out that the University would continue to place value on educational quality, and expected that the research equipment and laboratory infrastructure of Macao could be further enhanced.
President Liu Liang gave a report to the Chief Executive on the achievements of Macau University of Science and Technology in recent years, from the University’s full implementation of Chairman Xi Jinping’s important instructions for Macao’s higher institutions to the University’s devotion to cultivating patriotic talents who love China and Macao and have strong sense of family and national affiliations, to the University’s development path centering on quality and innovation. With the great support of the Central People’s Government, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Macao S.A.R. Government, the University set up the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, which represents the national standard of Chinese medicine research, and the only state key laboratory of our country in the field of space science, the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, and received a great many awards and prizes of state, provincial and ministerial levels. President Liu Liang introduced the “Three-Step-Approach” of the University’s development path, which comprises development of an outstanding talent force and frontier technology platforms, publication of high-level papers and patents, and promotion of industrialization for research outcomes and patents. This has laid a solid foundation for the University in developing innovative science and technology and industrialization, which ensures the improved efficiency and success rate for transfer of M.U.S.T. research achievements, and above all the bright prospects in industry-education-research synergetic development.
President Liu Liang said that the novel coronavirus outbreak at the beginning of this year has brought about grave challenges for our nation and for Macao. Nevertheless, under the extraordinarily leadership of the Chief Executive, the Macao S.A.R. rolled out a series of highly efficient control and prevention measures, which successfully brought the epidemic development under control and secured the safety of life and health of the general public. M.U.S.T. worked in strict alignment with the S.A.R. and set up an ad hoc leadership team for the purpose of control and prevention of COVID-19 and carried out a fully deployment of scientific anti-epidemic measures and measures to stabilize teaching orders at the University, thanks to which, the University was able to sustain classes via a quick deployment of Cloud Classroom enabling online delivery of classes the whole time during the epidemic. What’s more, the University assembled its elite research forces to be devoted to scientific battlement against the epidemic and ranked 1st in the S.A.R.’s subsidy for key science and technology research projects. To the date, the university teachers and students have published a number of anti-epidemic research papers, including on the world’s leading journals such as Nature, Cell, Nature Medicine, and others.
The Chief Executive responded that higher education empowers industrial development and research projects lead to practical achievements and make contributions for the mankind. He further stressed that Macao has taken great initiative in propelling development of the Chinese medicine industry in recent years, and the S.A.R. Government was working on the relevant legislation so as to provide a legal basis for development of Chinese medicine. Soon when the relevant legislative bills are approved by the Legislative Assembly of Macao and come into effect, Macao will usher in new opportunities for development of Chinese medicine. He expressed hopes for M.U.S.T. to continue its support for development of Chinese medicine in Macao.
Furthermore, the Chief Executive extended thanks to M.U.S.T. for its contribution to Macao’s efforts in prevention and control of the epidemic and expected that the vaccine research team could expedite and tighten partnership with other vaccine institutions so as to jointly develop vaccines and roll out clinical trials.
Other members attending the reception and visit include Ms. Hoi Lai Fong, Director of the Chief Executive Office, Vice President Tong Ka Lok of M.U.S.T., Vice President Jiang Zhihong, Vice President Pang Chuan, Vice President Lin Zhijun, Vice President Kwong Ying Wa and Administrative Officer of the President’s Office, University Council Member Chen Jimin, Director Zhang Keke of the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Prof. Zhang Kang of the Faculty of Medicine, and Ms. Li Wen, Senior Supervisor of the Secretariat of the President’s Office.
