A faculty-student delegation from the University of Brasília visited City University of Macau (CityU) on March 16, 2026, marking a significant step toward deepening bilateral academic engagement.
At the start of the visit, CityU Rector Jun Liu warmly welcomed the delegation, introducing the university's development, distinctive features, student composition, and academic strengths. He emphasized CityU's role as a distinctive higher education institution in Macao and its existing cooperation with Brazilian universities, expressing hope that this visit would deepen mutual understanding and promote higher education internationalization.
During the exchange meeting, representatives from various academic units—including Cheng Wu, Director of the Global Affairs Office; Liying Cheng, Dean of the School of Education; José Alves, Dean of the Faculty of Business; Xi Li, Executive Associate Dean of the Faculty of International Tourism and Management; Dejun Xie, DBA Programme Director of the Faculty of Business; Markus Leibrecht, Course Coordinator of BAE Finance Elite Cohort Programme at the Faculty of Finance; and Sara Augusto, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences—introduced their faculties' development. Discussions focused on short-term courses, student exchanges, and scholarship mechanisms. Dean José Alves highlighted doctoral programs, expressing hope for closer connections in joint supervision and scholar exchanges. The Brazilian delegates also conveyed interest in expanding understanding of China's higher education system.
That afternoon, Vice Rector Kuai Peng Ip met with the delegation, pointing out Macao's unique advantages as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and expressing the expectation to fully leverage this role in promoting academic and cultural exchanges between the two institutions.
Following the meeting, delegation members delivered academic presentations on topics including "Governance and Monitoring of International Programs within the Directorate of International Relations at CAPES," "Technology Transfer of Digital Assets: Success Factors and Barriers," and "Get To Know GECHINA." Faculty and students from both universities engaged in lively discussions and preliminarily explored joint research possibilities, creating a rich academic atmosphere.
On the second day, accompanied by the Faculty of Business faculty, the delegation visited Macao's Economic and Technological Development Bureau and the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute, gaining insights into Macao's technological innovation policies and its role as a service platform for China-Portuguese-speaking countries' economic cooperation. Delegation members were deeply impressed by Macao's technological achievements and urban development. In the days that followed, the delegation traveled to Hengqin, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to visit enterprises and understand industrial development in the Greater Bay Area, actively exploring industry-academia-research cooperation between China and Brazil, aiming to transform this exchange into substantive collaborative projects.
On the following day, the delegation, led by faculty from the business school, visited the Macao Economic and Technological Development Bureau and the Investment and Trade Promotion Bureau to gain an in-depth understanding of Macao’s science-and-technology innovation policies and the role of the China–Portugal economic and trade cooperation platform. They were deeply impressed by Macao’s technological innovation and urban development. In the following days, the delegation traveled to Hengqin, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to visit enterprises, thoroughly exploring the current state of industrial development in the Greater Bay Area. They actively explored possibilities for industry-academia-research collaboration between Brazil and China, striving to translate the outcomes of this exchange into substantive cooperative projects and usher in a new chapter of educational and research collaboration between the two universities.