The Macao Higher Education Bureau says it will give Macao students money in the forthcoming academic year so they can study at Oporto University in northern Portugal.

The bureau issued a written statement on Monday saying the money, from the Higher Education Fund, will go toward the cost of taking programmes leading to first degrees and postgraduate degrees awarded by Oporto University, and of doing a year of initial study of the Portuguese language.

The fund will grant up to 15 students 29,000 patacas (about US$3,630) each to learn Portuguese for a year, and 48,000 patacas each to take a first degree, the Macao Higher Education Bureau says.

In December the bureau said it had reached an agreement with the Portuguese Institute of the Orient and Oporto University to cooperate in turning out people bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese.