Macau is better known as a tourist destination than a magnet for postgraduates, but one of its universities is carving out a niche as a centre for advanced study of the Portuguese-speaking world.
The University of St Joseph (USJ) claims to be the first in China to offer English-medium master's programmes in African, Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) and Latin American studies that focus on the economic and political dynamics between the target area and China. The African and contemporary China courses opened in September.
The USJ programmes in Lusophone and Latin American studies have common core courses in colonial and post-colonial studies, nationalism and national identity, Chinese international economic co-operation and investments, and modules on contemporary issues in the target region, such as violence, revolution and citizenship in Latin America.
Highlights of the African studies programme include trade with and aid from China, and political and diplomatic issues in Africa. Also explored are conflicts, peacekeeping and human rights in Africa and the issues of African diasporas and emigration in Asia, as well as the demography, food and health of Chinese communities in Africa.
Fees for the two-year master's programmes are 62,000 patacas.
USJ, a private, English-medium university previously known as the Macau Inter-University Institute, was founded in 1996. All its diplomas and degrees are jointly awarded with the Catholic University of Portugal. Its campus houses 2,000 students, including about 500 in graduate studies. Twenty per cent of the students are from outside Macau - mostly from Portuguese-speaking countries, with a few from the mainland and South Asia.