MPI held its 2017-2018 opening ceremony

Macao Polytechnic Institute has successfully held the opening ceremony for the new academic year 2017-2018 in the afternoon of August 18 at the MPI Sports Pavilion. This year has witnessed a total number of 900 new students getting enrolled in various MPI programs, more than 80% are local students, and about 10% from the mainland and overseas. During the ceremony, more than 500 outstanding students were awarded scholarships sponsored by governmental agencies, organizations, enterprises, and individuals. The institute adheres to its management philosophy of "Small but beautiful and exquisite" and also emphasizes its long-term commitments to cultivate talents for the Macao community. Witnessed by all the guests, and both solemn and touching, all the freshmen swore an oath - "MPI's heart, our new start" - in joining the MPI family.

During the opening ceremony, Prof Lei Heong Iok first warmly welcomed all the new students to join the MPI family. He then reiterated MPI’s long-held management philosophy of "Small but beautiful and exquisite", as well as the institute’s unwavering commitment to implement a "student-centered" guiding principle. In addition, MPI is resolved to mobilize all available resources to create an optimal environment for MPI's teaching activities. Indeed, as MPI is steadfastly progressing in recent years, the institute has obtained many remarkable achievements in significant aspects. In addition to the stable number of enrolled students from mainland China and overseas, MPI has actually remained for seven consecutive years at the very top rank for its university admission applications among local high school graduates. MPI has not just forged close ties with the mainland, the United States, Britain, Portugal and other well-known institutions at home and abroad to carry out academic exchanges and cooperation, but it has also focused on maintaining a "productive" team of teaching faculty. A balanced "teaching and research-oriented" approach has been firmly positioned at MPI so as to improve the overall academic standard of its teaching staff. Currently, 70.6% of MPI's academic staff have obtained a doctoral degree. At the same time, MPI is committed to ensuring and upgrading their teaching capabilities by taking the initiative to actively get involved in academic evaluation exercises, thus making itself Asia's very first tertiary institute to have received accreditation by the academic evaluation authority from the U.K.. Prof Lei also accentuated emphasized that MPI’s dual-emphasis on "Morality and Cultivation" naturally requires teachers to abide by professional ethics and students to develop self-discipline along with compliance with laws and regulations, thus allowing them to aim high in both academic studies and moral standards, and ultimately transform themselves into MPI's most ‘exquisite’ graduates.

Dr. Lao Cheng Kin spoke on behalf of all MPI faculty staff, he first delivered a warm welcome to all the freshmen students and then encouraged them to develop a positive and proactive attitude towards learning; to participate in activities organized by MPI and the Student Union as well; to take part in community services and exchange studies at home and abroad; to acquire good communication skills and develop good conduct and decent behavior; to embrace a sharp vision for the future and set up long-term goals in life; and to make the best out of the upcoming four years of university studies to equip themselves with knowledge to strive towards excellence and success.

Chio Hoi Lam, a freshman student spoke on behalf of all the new students. Being able to attend the opening ceremony, according to Miss Chio, was particularly meaningful for each and every new student as it means setting sail on a brand-new journey in life. She also shared with the audience her own experience in applying for the program at MPI. Chio stated that her career goal was to become a specialist in the nursing profession upon graduation, and to practice her own ideals and to pay back her family, teachers, and friends for their support and encouragement. She ended her speech by wishing all fellow schoolmates a bright future in their own unique career path after graduation that would also enable them to contribute to building Macao and to giving back to the society as well.

A highlight of the opening ceremony took place when all the MPI freshmen students, witnessed by over a thousand distinguished guests, teachers and parents, solemnly and loudly swore their oath of " MPI's heart, our new start" to become a member of the MPI family. Indeed, the whole ceremony has never run short with the students' performance. Immediately following the ceremony, MPI kicked off its exciting array of orientation activities that it had prepared for all the new students.