Seven Macao students have begun learning Portuguese in Macao before they begin their studies at the University of Porto in northern Portugal, the Portuguese Institute of the Orient, or IPOR, says.

IPOR issued a written statement saying the students will go to Portugal to pursue first degrees or postgraduate degrees in law, languages, economics or dental surgery.

The institute says the students will study Portuguese for a year, taking the first half of the language course in Macao, and that much of what they learn will be relevant to the subjects they will specialise in.

The students will begin the second half of their course in Portuguese at the University of Porto in March, and much of what they learn there will be to do with Portuguese culture, the institute says.

All these arrangements are provided for by an agreement among the institute, the university and the government of Macao, which was signed in December, according to the IPOR statement.