University of Macau

Undergraduate Curriculum Reform

Background

Welcome to the Undergraduate Curriculum Reform Website. From here you can access all the latest information about our new Undergraduate Curriculum model and the new General Education courses.

In its 10-Year Development Strategy (Academic Year 2007/08 to 2016/17), the University of Macau aims to become a leading university in the country and in South East Asia. It aims to produce well-rounded graduates with the potential to become pillars of the Macao Special Administration Region as well as to serve in the Mainland and in the global community. It strives to promote excellence in teaching and research and provide opportunities of higher learning at an international standard.

To fulfill the University's mission to cultivate graduates who have good intellectual, interpersonal and communication competences to face the challenges of globalization of the 21^st century, the University has developed its strategic goals and plans in the areas of academic and student development including:

	Developing a broader range of academic programmes

	Reviewing and refining its academic system and undergraduate degree structure

	Developing a new general undergraduate curriculum model

	Developing university-wide general education programme in the degree programmes

Review of the Existing 4-Year Curriculum Model

During late 2009 to early 2010, a senior faculty retreat and a number of informal meetings among senior leaders, deans and the Registrar were held to review the current undergraduate curriculum and to develop a new general curriculum model, taking reference to previous relevant studies and the practice of more than 20 well-known liberal arts universities in Hong Kong, U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Mainland China and Taiwan. The then Vice Rector-designate (Academic Affairs) had also joined a Hong Kong Baptist University delegation visit to eight major institutions in East US in early October 2008 studying their latest development in undergraduate education. Some of the observations were incorporated into the final proposal.

The following attributes or concerns of the current UM curriculum were identified:

1.	The minimum credit requirement for most non-professional bachelor's degree programmes is over 144 (and for some programmes over 170) credits, which are too high (in US the average is about 120 credits).

2.	There is no university-wide maximum requirement for major credits. Many Faculties/programmes require that students complete over 75 major units which is also too high.

3.	There is no common requirement on general education and have no common conceptual framework.

4.	There is no university-wide provisions for free electives.