The Higher Education Bureau in Macao has announced that the managers of the Higher Education Fund there are taking new applications for money to pay for institutions of higher education in the city to teach people to be bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese.

The bureau issued a written statement saying that this year the money can be spent on exchanges with universities in lusophone countries.

The bureau says the purpose of the money is to improve the professional skills of teachers and researchers in institutions of higher education in Macao, with a view to making the city a centre for teaching people to be bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese.

The fund managers are taking applications from Macao universities for money for research until September 4, and for money for other purposes until November 6. The projects the money is meant to be spent on can last up to two years, and must finish by 31 August 2022.