News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that number of banks in Macao totalled 30 at the end of the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 3 year-on-year. Full-time employees in the Banking Sector rose by 343 year-on-year to 6,806. Analysed by occupation, there were 2,007 directors & managers and 2,060 clerks (including 728 bank tellers).
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When the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) implemented its capstone research requirement in 2015, the rationale was to ensure that its graduates possess skills and tools to formulate relevant questions, analyse the current industry situation and contribute to plotting course adjustments for future tourism and hospitality development. As an extension of this capstone project, the TEd Summit events have become a means to publicly share the valuable insights and findings amassed by top student researchers with industry, thereby creating a conduit to connect leadership potential with industry leaders.
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In a study on online matching, a scholar at the University of Macau (UM) has discovered a new model that can be widely used in today's society, such as in the DiDi carpooling service, or landlord and tenant matching. The study is the only breakthrough in arbitrary online matching problems in the past 30 years. The related paper has been published by the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) top journal Journal of the ACM. It is also the first paper from Macao that has been published in the journal in the past decade.
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The University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) recently held the Fourth Symposium on Biomedical Sciences on the internet. More than 130 students, researchers, and scholars from Macao, mainland China, and overseas participated in the online event. They had in-depth discussions on a wide range of issues in the field of biomedical sciences. The event provided them with a platform to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and share research findings.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) has officially launched the Venue Booking Programme of the Macao Contemporary Art Centre – Navy Yard No. 2 and expanded the scope of events covered in the Programme. Local cultural practitioners are welcome to host music and drama activities at the venue. In addition, in view of the impact of the pandemic, IC will extend the implementation period of activities/projects subsidised under the “2020 Financial Support for Local Association Activities/ Cultural Projects Programme” (excluding publishing and performances of Cantonese opera excerpts), thus allowing the activities to start before 31 December 2020 and conclude no later than the second quarter of 2021.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI (103.13) for April 2020 increased by 2.05% year-on-year, a slowdown of 0.42 percentage points from the growth in March (+2.47%). The increment was attributable to higher prices of fresh pork, dearer charges for eating out and rising rentals for dwellings.
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The MPI online lectures on “Physical and Mental Adjustment during the Pandemic” were successfully held on 14 and 18 May. The lectures “Physical and Mental Health Maintenance” and “Intimate Relationships Maintenance” were individually conducted by two assistant coordinators of the MPI Social Work programme, Lee Wai Lun and Lau Ping Kuen. The lectures aim to help Macao citizens to develop positive thinking and attitudes towards the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and life.
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Macao Polytechnic Institute and the University of Porto in Portugal jointly present Orientes do Português, the first Portuguese international academic journal in Asia, published by the Centre for Portuguese Studies of Macao Polytechnic Institute and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. The journal is co-founded as a means to manifest the advantages of Macao as a “Sino-Portuguese platform”, to stimulate the development of Macao’s role as the “International Portuguese Training Centre” and “Training Centre for Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Professionals”, to strengthen the cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries, enhance Macao’s influence in the global academia, and to promote Portuguese language teaching and research in Macao, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, mainland China, and other Asian regions.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that, under the tightened quarantine measures for arrivals in Macao in late March 2020, number of visitor arrivals in April tumbled by 99.7% year-on-year to 11,041; the figure also represented a month-to-month decline of 94.8%. Both overnight visitors (6,383) and same-day visitors (4,658) showed year-on-year decreases of over 99.0%. Under medical observation measures, overnight visitors stayed significantly longer (+18.9 days), at 21.1 days on average, which led to a surge of 6.2 days in the overall average length of stay of visitors to 7.3 days. Meanwhile, the duration for same-day visitors (0.1 day) shortened by 0.1 day.
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The University of Macau (UM) recently joined 15 other universities and research institutions around the world to conduct an international study of the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to provide key policy guidance and to strengthen existing health services in order to better address public mental health issues.
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