Shi Youqi (left) and Im Sio Kei represent GDUFS and MPI to sign the cooperation agreement

MPI and GDUFS give mutual support to the cooperation and development of the Greater Bay Area

The delegation from GDFUS, led by Shi Youqi (middle) visits the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory

A delegation from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), led by the President, Shi Youqi, visited Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) on 19th July. With the warmest welcome from MPI’s President, Im Sio Kei, the two institutions signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fields such as culture, education and artificial intelligence, to intensify higher education in the Greater Bay Area and to develop the institutions internationally.

The signing ceremony of the “Cooperation Agreement between Macao Polytechnic Institute and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies” was held in the morning on 19th July at MPI, with presence and witness of chief officers in-charge from academic and administrative units of the two institutions. Im Sio Kei said that the bilateral communication of the two institutions began in 2002, and has always been sound in fields such as communication between teachers and students, academic teaching and research, etc. The establishment of the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory in 2016, under the signed trilateral agreement between the two institutions and Global Tone Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (GTCOM), marked a prominent success in cooperation and built up the world’s largest corpus base for the Chinese-Portuguese/Portuguese-Chinese machine translation system. The application of this machine translation system has received positive feedback from government departments and organisations in Macao, Mainland China, and Portuguese-speaking countries. The successful holding of the “5th International Forum on Portuguese Language Teaching and Research in China” jointly organised by GDUFS and MPI in Guangzhou for the first time, not only indicated the achievement of the close cooperation between the two higher education institutions, but also established a new milestone for the bilateral cooperation in Portuguese teaching and research, and emphasised the regard and encouragement towards Portuguese teaching in China. The “Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” published this February by the PRC government specifically stated the promotion of developing educational cooperation in the Greater Bay Area, deepening the connection among regions to set up advantageous disciplines, laboratories and research centres. Under the framework given in the Development Plan, MPI and GDUFS have signed the cooperation agreement for deepening and developing multilevel and comprehensive academic communications. Im Sio Kei believes that, with mutual efforts, the cooperation between MPI and GDUFS will certainly advance and develop.

Shi Youqi commented that MPI is an active, effective and high-standard institution. The school mottoes of MPI and GDUFS, “knowledge, expertise, global vision” and “conversance with both Eastern and Western learning”, inspired the cooperation between the two institutions. GDUFS, for its entire 56 years of institutional history, has always been the important base in South China, in terms of development of international talents, research on foreign languages and culture, foreign economy and trade, international strategy, and promotion of education internationalisation. The university has connected and cooperated with over 400 academic and cultural institutions around the world, including MPI, covering 57 countries and regions in total. By having 26 language programmes, GDUFS stands as a high-standard university, featured with internationalism, and holds the most foreign language programmes and professional language talents in South China. The Portuguese programme combines the geographical advantage of MPI, and draws on foreign teaching ideas to perfect teaching methods, increase training quality for students, encourage them to frequently participate in exchange with foreign institutions, and unceasingly develop their abilities. Accompanied by the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the development of the Greater Bay Area, China supports and nourishes the deepening cooperation among institutions in the Greater Bay Area, particularly when MPI holds a global vision and the passion to serve. Shi Youqi believes that, under the friendly cooperation of GDUFS and MPI, deeper and closer cooperation will paint a better and practical future to foster mutual efforts for national development.

The delegation from GDUFS present for the signing ceremony of cooperation agreement included Ke Xiaohua, Chief of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, and Yang Ke, Dean of the Faculty of European Languages and Cultures.

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