Epidemic comes again! After about 50 days, there were confirmed cases of COVID-19 appeared again in Macao at the end of September 2021. In protection of self and family’s health and safety, to enable a herd immunity barrier and defend our homeland, SAR government again urges the residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In response to the government’s call, University of Macau (UM) strongly encourages the students who have not received any doses of vaccine to get vaccinated as soon as possible. During the promotion, the top management visited the 10 Residential Colleges (RCs) one by one to care about the students’ lives under the epidemic, and to learn about their vaccination status and the difficulties RCs have encountered in the anti-pandemic work.
Although it was the National Day holiday, the top management did not relax at all for the well-being of the students. At around 9:45 am on 4th Oct 2021, Prof. Yonghua SONG, Rector, Prof. Billy SO, Vice Rector (Student Affairs) and Mr. Paul PANG, Dean of Students arrived at Ma Man Kei and Lo Pak Sam College (MLC). College Master Prof. YANG Liu, Resident Fellows Dr. Gary FUNG and Dr. Vénus VIANA, Ms. Jenny AO– secretary to the College Master and student leaders welcomed the top management at the College entrance. Then the two parties had a short meeting in the multifunction room.
Rector Yonghua SONG and top management having a discussion with MLC teachers and students
Rector SONG first thanked MLC members for their understanding on the relocation due to the construction project of building additional floors on top of W33. Then he expressed the top management’s care about students’ well-being and the need of coordinating with the SAR government’s call on getting vaccinated. He hoped that MLC support the university’s work and fulfill citizen responsibilities together with UM. Rector SONG also genuinely asked the students if they have adapted to living in W31. And they were welcomed to give feedback to the College or to give suggestions to the university if they encounter any difficulties.
On behalf of MLC, Master YANG thanked Rector SONG and the top management for their care and concern about MLC. She has reported the current situation of MLC, especially the work progress of encouraging students to get vaccination. Master YANG pointed out that she has called meetings with MLC colleagues and student leaders to discuss some effective methods of urging the students to get vaccinated according to the recent requirements and instructions from the SAR Government and the university. After the meeting, everybody helped contacting the students and learnt about their health and vaccination status. We also encouraged them to take actions in order to protect Macao and UM, and to create a safe living environment together. As at 6 pm on 3rd Oct, according to the students’ declarations and the follow-up phone calls by the College, it is expected that the percentage of students (including resident and non-resident students) getting vaccinated will meet our target by the end of Oct.
Rector Yonghua SONG listening to MLC College Master YANG Liu’s work report
Having learnt about MLC students’ vaccination status, Rector SONG thanked MLC staff and student leaders for their efforts on encouraging College students to get vaccinated. He has expressed his care about the resident students’ lives and his concern about non-resident students’ current situations. He has also give valuable guidance on the future work of MLC. Rector SONG suggested the College to seek assistance from the faculties to urge those non-resident students to get vaccinated in order to strengthen their immune system. He also encouraged MLC to organize some activities especially for non-resident students in order to keep contact with them.
Student leaders ZHANG Dingyang, ZHAO Zhilong and HUANG Siting have shared their thoughts and difficulties encountered during the vaccination promotion work. They will strongly support the university’s decisions, fully implement the epidemic preventive measures and suspend the large-scale activities. They will also be a role model to their classmates and friends in getting vaccination and in contribution to maintain a safe campus. At last, Rector SONG highly appreciated the student leaders’ support to MLC and UM. He said that the university also support the Student Union and RC House Associations. He hoped that there will be more students joining the student organizations and bring their service and leadership talents into play in order to contribute to their teachers, classmates, the university and the society.
(By Jenny AO, MLC 7/10/2021)