The Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) wants to increase the network of Chinese universities with Portuguese language courses to 50 in the next six years, the Lusa news agency reports.

“I believe that in the next six to seven years, the number of Chinese universities with Portuguese [courses] will go from the current 37 to at least 50,” says Carlos André, the director of IPM’s Portuguese Language Pedagogical and Scientific Center.

He said within a decade, each of these universities could have “at least 10 or 12” professors in Portuguese language studies, where many now have only one.

The center will soon publish 10 books for the teaching of Portuguese in China, authored by Chinese teachers.