UM inaugurates Macao Base for Primary & Secondary STEM Education
澳大“澳門中小學生科技實踐基地＂揭幕

The University of Macau (UM) today (28 June) held an inauguration ceremony for the Macao Base for Primary & Secondary STEM Education and an opening ceremony for the STEM Programme, which attracted many prominent community members, teachers and students from local secondary schools, and parents. With UM’s centre for science and engineering promotion as the core component, the base will launch a series of STEM programmes to support science promotion in Macao and provide continuous training for teachers and students from local secondary schools. The base will also advance science promotion in Macao by collaborating with all strata of society.

Officiating guests at the inauguration ceremony included Lam Kam Seng, chair of UM’s University Council; Ma Chi Ngai, president of the Administrative Committee of the Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT); Yonghua Song, rector of UM; Lou Pak Sang, director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau; Ho Sio Kam, president of the Chinese Educators Association of Macau; Kolbe Vong, director general of the Macao Catholic Schools Association; Sio Hon Pan, curator of the Macao Science Center; and Van Mei Lin, deputy director of the Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau. Other guests at the ceremony included Hu Cong, assistant director-general of the Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macao; Chan Wan Hei, member of the Administrative Committee of the FDCT; Lionel Ni and Rui Martins, vice rectors of UM; Yuen Ka-Veng, interim dean of UM’s Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and registrar; Tam Kam Weng, associate dean of the FST and director of the centre for science and engineering promotion; as well as professors, supervisors, and secondary school principals.

In his speech, Rector Song said he remembers President Xi Jinping’s expectation for UM to produce more talented graduates with a love for the country and Macao as well as more achievements in science and technology. To fulfill the expectation, the university will create various new platforms for local students to develop their talents. For instance, last year, Lou Wan-Ian, a student from the Sacred Heart Canossian College English Section, was selected to study at UM’s Wireless Communication Laboratory through a talent development programme jointly launched by UM and the FDCT. Later, she visited the United States as a member of a research delegation from UM and won the championship at the IEEE Mega-Challenge 2017: Smart Cities Competition, which was part of the IEEE RFID 2017 Conference. In the future, UM will continue to encourage young adults in Macao to make a contribution to the development of Macao and the Greater Bay Area.

In his speech, Ma Chi Ngai said that in President Xi Jinping’s letter addressed to all teachers and students from institutions of higher learning in Macao, he recognised Macao’s new progress in technological innovation and encouraged Macao to create more achievements in science and technology so as to promote the moderate diversification of Macao’s economy, the sustainable development of the city, and the development of the Greater Bay Area. The FDCT will follow President Xi’s instructions. It will support science promotion in Macao, and encourage young adults in Macao to study science-related subjects and participate in scientific research, so as to create a pool of talented people for technological upgrading in the future.

Tam Kam Weng reviewed the various science promotion activities organised by the FST over the years. This is the 11th consecutive year that UM has organised the science promotion summer camps. In addition to the science promotion summer camps, UM has also organised talent development programmes, training sessions for students participating in competitions, and teacher training, with the aim of training talented people for Macao. In the future, they will further strengthen communication and collaboration with domestic and international institutions through the base. For the 2018-2019 period, the centre will launch science promotion outreach programmes, through which UM professors and students will organise science promotion activities in the local community.

At the event, an opening ceremony for a training workshop in technological innovation for primary and secondary school teachers, and an opening ceremony for a science promotion summer camp, were also held. The two events are part of UM’s STEM Programme for the year 2018. This year’s training workshop in technological innovation has attracted more than 60 teachers. Ten professors from UM’s FST will introduce students to the latest research and applications in their areas of expertise. The workshop will not only help to strengthen communication between secondary school teachers and the Macao Base for Primary & Secondary STEM Education, it will also help to inspire new ideas, assist various secondary schools to discover students’ potential in science, encourage science promotion, and make good use of UM’s research resources.

Funded by the FDCT, UM’s science promotion summer camps cover seven topics, namely civil engineering, three-dimensional reconstruction of quadcopters, computer vision and human-machine interaction, wireless technology, robots and artificial intelligence, transport technology, and maths and big data. The summer camps aim to help secondary school students develop an interest in, and discover their potential for, science and technology, and to strengthen their organisational and teamwork skills through interactive games and science experiments. For more information, please visit: https://umstem.umac.mo/en.

澳門大學今（28）日舉行“澳門中小學生科技實踐基地”成立及“STEM教育計劃”發佈儀式，吸引眾多社會賢達、本澳中學師生和家長參與。該基地以澳大科學暨工程推廣中心為核心，將推出一系列STEM教育計劃，支持社區科學推廣活動，為中學師生提供可持續培訓；基地將透過與各界合作，推動澳門科普教育的發展。

澳大校董會主席林金城、澳門科學技術發展基金主席馬志毅、澳大校長宋永華、教育暨青年局局長老柏生、中華教育會會長何少金、天主教學校聯會理事長黃彪、澳門科學館館長邵漢彬、澳門郵電局副局長溫美蓮主持基地揭幕儀式。中聯辦經濟部副處長胡叢，澳門科學技術發展基金行政會委員陳允熙，澳大副校長倪明選和馬許願、澳大科技學院代院長兼教務長阮家榮、副院長兼科學暨工程推廣中心主任譚錦榮、一眾教授、導師，以及中學校長等出席儀式。

宋永華致辭時表示，牢記國家主席習近平的期許，“為澳門培養更多愛國愛澳人才，創造更多科技成果”，並化之為行動，全方位為本地學生提供一展所長的創新平台，例如嘉諾撒聖心英文中學學生勞韻恩通過澳大和科學技術發展基金的潛能拓展計劃進入無線通訊實驗室學習，並代表澳大科研代表隊遠赴美國，參與美國電機及電子工程師學會“智慧城市射頻識別技術＂國際超級挑戰大賽，更奪得冠軍，為澳爭光。澳大將繼續鼓勵青年學子一起建設澳門和貢獻大灣區。

馬志毅致辭時表示，習近平回信全澳高校師生，肯定澳門科技創新取得的新進步，勉勵澳門創造更多科技成果，以促進澳門經濟適度多元及粵港澳大灣區建設。因此，科技基金亦跟隨習主席的指示，大力支持本地科普發展，鼓勵澳門青年學習科技類科目和投身科研，為澳門未來科技升級發展儲備人才。

譚錦榮首先回顧了過去澳大科技學院所開展的多項科普活動，今年是澳大連續第11年舉辦科普夏令營，還開展了潛能拓展計劃、學生競賽指導、教師培訓等活動，為澳門培育人才。依託科技實踐基地的平台，未來還將進一步加強國際和國內的交流合作，展望2018-2019年的計劃，該中心還將推出科普外展計劃，讓教授和學生進入社區開展科普活動。

同場還舉辦了“中小學老師科技創新培訓工作坊”和“科普夏令營”的開營儀式，兩項活動為2018年澳大STEM教育計劃的一部分。是次科技創新培訓工作坊，吸引了60多位教師參與，由澳大科技學院十位教授介紹了各自領域的最新研究與應用。相關工作坊將加強中學教師和澳大科技實踐基地之間的交流與聯繫，啟發創新思維，協助各中學進一步發掘學生科學方面的潛能，鼓勵基於中小學生科技實踐基地，開展本地科普教育推廣及善用澳大科研資源。

另外，澳大科普夏令營由澳門科學技術發展基金資助，內容涉及七個不同的科普範疇，分別為“土木工程夏令營＂、“四軸飛行器三維重構夏令營＂、＂計算機視覺與人機交互夏令營＂、“無線科技研習夏令營＂、“機器人與人工智慧夏令營＂、 “運輸技術夏令營＂及“數學與大數據夏令營＂。夏令營將透過互動遊戲和科學實驗，培養及啟發中學生對科技的興趣與潛能，增強其組織及團隊協作能力。詳情可瀏覽：https://umstem.umac.mo/zh。