Places are to be reserved on certain courses at the Macao Polytechnic Institute for selected students from the University of Cape Verde, newspaper Jornal Tribuna de Macau reported on Monday.

A protocol to that effect was signed on Friday. Under it, MPI will offer five places for Cape Verdean students on MPI’s planned licentiate degree in Chinese language for foreigners. MPI will also offer 15 places to Cape Verdean students on the Institute’s gaming management programme, the newspaper said.

Speaking on Saturday at MPI’s Open Day, the President, Lei Heong Iok, confirmed the relevant licentiate degree programme would “be ready to open” in September. The course would offer a total of 20 vacancies, he added, quoted by the media outlet.

According to the newspaper, Mr Lei, a delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, also stressed the importance of enhancing the quality of Portuguese language teaching in Mainland China. To that end, he would ask China’s Ministry of Education to set up a committee to evaluate and define standards applicable to such teaching for all universities in Mainland China.