The Rector of the University of Saint Joseph, Rev’d Professor Stephen Morgan, told Macau News Agency (MNA) that the university was “delighted” with the opportunity to meet with representatives Central People’s Government Liaison Office and former Chief Executive Edmund Ho.
Last week the Director of the Central Government Liaison Office in Macau, Fu Ziying, and his delegation visited the USJ, in a campus tour led by the Chancellor of USJ, Reverend Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang, and Rev. Prof. Morgan.
This was followed by a meeting between a USJ delegation and the Vice-Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and former CE, Edmund Ho, with the meetings signalling a possible improvement in relations between the Diocese of Macau-linked institution and Chinese authorities.
During his visit, the Liaison Office, Director Fu considered that the University’s vision and development positioning and social values of “Truth, Charity, Justice, Life and Family”, were in line with the core principle promoted in Mainland China.
Fu also stated that the USJ should promote the concept advocated by President Xi Jinping of “a community with a shared future for mankind” in a world embraced with different cultures, ethnicities and religion while pointing out that the Liaison Office will continue to support the university in high-level educational and research development
“The purpose of our meetings with the Liaison Office and with Edmund Ho was simply for me to introduce myself and my new senior leadership team to them. The Director-General of the Liaison Office, Mr Fu, suggested that it would be an opportunity for him to visit the Ilha Verde Campus and come to understand better how we understood ourselves as a University in, of and for Macau: in of and for China,” Morgan told MNA.
“We were, of course, delighted to do that and to show them some of the remarkable work our students – coming from 47 countries – are doing […] We were also pleased to have an opportunity to listen to Director-General Fu set out how he thought USJ’s diversity and international character might be developed”.
Morgan took over from Professor Peter Stilwell, who has held the role since 2012, as USJ Rector in July of this year.
The Welsh deacon has also expressed to MNA that since USJ was established in 1996, Edmund Ho, the Macau SAR’s first CE, was described as being a very “supportive and wise friend to us”.
During the meeting, Ho underlined the importance of USJ’s contribution as a platform in strengthening exchanges between Macau, the Portuguese-speaking Countries and other European Countries, and encouraged the university to strengthen the connections with the Mainland China within the internationalisation vision to further promote the integration of educational exchanges between Macao and China
“The very fact that we have our Ilha Verde Campus is, in no small measure, down to his vision. I very much wanted to meet with him and seek his counsel on how we might continue to serve local society and develop as a university,” Morgan told MNA.
With the catholic university currently not allowed by the Chinese government to recruit mainland students a recent improvement in China-Vatican relations could signal a possible change in this issue.
The Vatican has recently extended an agreement with Beijing over the appointment of bishops in China for two more years, following a historic agreement struck in 2018 that ended a decades-old power struggle over the right to appoint bishops in China.
The deal calls for China to formally recognize the pope’s authority within the Roman Catholic Church and his final say over the country’s bishops. The Vatican, in turn, recognized the legitimacy of bishops previously appointed by the Chinese government and excommunicated by the church
Experts have considered this decision a critical step on the road to diplomatic relations with Beijing, which could mean the Vatican cutting ties with Taiwan.
“As for the admission of Mainland students – our position remains as it has been for several years: we would be delighted to offer the opportunity to study at USJ to Mainland students and stand ready to be of service, if and when the appropriate authorities allow this to happen,” Rev’d Professor Morgan stated.
