Macau College will teach Portuguese so students can work here

Ostudents from the future School of Medicine of the University of Macau will be able to learn Portuguese during the course, facilitating access to the profession in Portugal, Lusa said today the director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

João Eurico Fonseca told Lusa that the joint program between the University of Macau (UM) and the University of Lisbon (UL) is in the final phase of external accreditation by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (A3ES), after a recent visit by the evaluating entity.

“ The course is scheduled to open in August 2028, for the school year 2028-2029 ", said on the margin of the 1st Joint Symposium between the Faculty of Medicine of UM and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

The University of Macau is building in Hengqin its first public medical school, integrated into a new campus in the special economic area of nearby Mountain Island.

The new faculty should be able to welcome up to 4,000 students, and according to Fonseca, the entire organizational structure of the program is already defined and the works are carried out according to schedule.

He explained that the joint diploma will allow graduates to obtain immediate recognition in Portugal through the University of Lisbon.

“The diploma comes from the University of Lisbon, it is immediately recognized. Of course, to practice medicine [in Portugal], it is necessary to have a minimum level of mastery of Portuguese”, he explained.

Fonseca considered that the University of Macau itself offers favorable conditions for students who intend to follow this professional path.

“There are Portuguese language studies and it will be possible for anyone who wants to learn Portuguese while taking the medical course,” he said.

According to the person responsible, although some students may already enter the course with knowledge of Portuguese, Mandarin and English, the university has the necessary resources to support those who wish to acquire language skills that they can later exercise in Portugal or even other European countries.

The director stressed, however, that the priority of the new college will be to meet Macau's needs.

“Macau needs doctors and this college will train doctors for Macau,” he said.

He explained that applicants from the territory should have priority in access to the course, increasing the likelihood that graduates will remain in the local health system.

Fonseca also highlighted the role that will be played by the Conde de São Januário Hospital and the new Macau Union Hospital in the training of students, and collaborations are being established with both institutions, which will support teaching through clinical training and the use of simulation technologies.

“The Conde São Januário Hospital has in fact a very lively, very intense clinical activity, which is great for training in the final stages of a doctor”, I also say the director of the Rheumatology Service of the Local Health Unit of Santa Maria.

The doctor said he was particularly impressed by the operation of the emergency service of the public hospital in the territory, despite the strong pressure of care.

“ The numbers are not very different from the numbers of the Emergency Service of the Hospital de Santa Maria and a very smart investment was made to structure the internal pathways of the patients, the circuits of the patients ", explained.

“ The medical service in Macau is already very good and I think this School of Medicine will make it excellent ", said.

In parallel with the creation of a new degree in medicine, the University of Lisbon is leading the development of an international master's degree to accelerate the transfer of results from biomedical research to clinical practice.

Fonseca revealed to Lusa that the programme is currently in the installation and creation phase under the European Erasmus Mundus initiative.

In addition to the University of Lisbon, the course will involve the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) and the Humanitas University in Milan.

The program will last for two years and intends to bring professionals from medicine and other related scientific areas closer together.

“It aims to create a common language in people who have degrees or in medicine or other areas nearby,” he said.

According to Fonseca, the objective is to train experts capable of serving as a link between scientific research and clinical practice, accelerating the transformation of discoveries made in laboratories into diagnoses, treatments and concrete benefits for patients.