There has been a 14.5 percent year-on-year increase in the number of students enrolling at Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) in order either to learn Portuguese or study in that language. The figures, relating to recruitment for the new academic year 2016/2017, were reported last week by local newspaper Macao Daily News.

Speaking on Friday at a ceremony to mark the new academic year, MPI’s President, Lei Heong Iok, also noted that nearly 100 students – out of approximately 800 new students this year – were from overseas. Among them, 28 came from Cape Verde and six were from Brazil. Those students had come to learn, respectively, gaming management and Chinese, he added.

This showed MPI was helping the city to become an exchange platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Mr Lei noted.