Passing the Torch, Reborn for the New Era: On the Occasion of the Restructuring of the Faculty of Science and Technology

By Xu Cheng-Zhong, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), University of Macau; Chair Professor of Computer and Information Science

Prologue: The Call of the Times

In February 2019, I joined the University of Macau (UM) just as the FST celebrated its 30th anniversary. Over 3 decades of cultivation, FST has achieved a historic leap from serving as an extension of Hong Kong’s education system to becoming a pillar of Macau’s autonomous higher education development, nurturing a vast pool of urgently needed technological talent for the Macau SAR. Today, 80% of Macau’s electromechanical engineers, 50% of its electrical engineers, and 25% of its registered civil engineers are graduates of FST. These significant figures are not only historical medals honoring our service to Macau society but also the solid foundation for the Faculty’s future development. I am deeply proud of the Faculty’s historic contributions to Macau’s economic and social progress.

Coinciding with UM’s relocation to the current campus, 3 State Key Laboratories—of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI , of Internet of Things for Smart City, and of Mechanism and Quality of Chinese Medicine—were established successively. This marked a pivotal opportunity for UM to transform from a teaching-oriented university focused primarily on “knowledge dissemination” into a research-oriented university emphasizing both “knowledge dissemination and innovation”. Taking the lead in this wave, FST has achieved remarkable results in talent cultivation, knowledge innovation, and social service. Consequently, UM’s international standing has risen significantly, entering the top 500 in the QS World University Rankings for the first time in 2019.

Technological innovation is not only essential for the moderate diversification of Macau’s economy but also a crucial component of China’s national development strategy. In February 2019, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area was released, explicitly setting the goal of building an “international science and technology innovation center”. Driving the development of the Greater Bay Area hinges on innovation, which is also the inevitable path for Macau’s economic diversification. I was fortunate to join UM under such historical circumstances, leading FST through its transformation—a timing that was both opportune and laden with great responsibility.

Chapter 1: Growing Pains – Structural Shortcomings and the Starting Point of Self-Reform

While acknowledging our achievements and opportunities, I clearly recognized the Faculty’s “structural shortcomings” and “growing pains”. At that time, although our hardware facilities were adequate, there was still a gap compared to top-tier research universities in terms of substantive development:

First, an imbalanced student structure. Over 55% of our students were undergraduates, while PhD students accounted for only 18%. Moreover, the quality of our PhD programmes was merely passable, lagging significantly behind other research universities in the Greater Bay Area, making it difficult to support high-level research output.

Second, “high quantity but low quality” in knowledge innovation. While the average number of publications per faculty member was acceptable, high-impact outputs were scarce. Papers published in JCR Q1 journals accounted for less than 50%, with few high-quality and influential publications. There was little engagement in frontier interdisciplinary fields; most research projects were conducted individually, and mechanisms for cross-disciplinary collaborative innovation were immature.

Third, an unestablished culture of innovation. An atmosphere championing knowledge innovation within the Faculty needed to be fostered. Some faculty members were content with mere knowledge dissemination, exhibiting a mindset where “doing research or not made no difference, and doing it well or poorly yielded the same result.” Although an annual full-time academic staff performance assessment (FAPA) existed, it had become a mere formality, lacking positive incentives for outstanding researchers.

Despite favorable hardware conditions and historical opportunities, we realized that a self-reform in academic culture, talent structure, and evaluation mechanism was essential to move the Faculty out of the “comfort zone” of being teaching-oriented. Through 7 years of concerted effort, we have achieved a profound leap from “establishing ourselves through teaching” to “leading through innovation.”

Chapter 2: Innovation as the Guide – Building the Faculty on Quality, Strengthening it through Innovation

Inheritance is the foundation; innovation is the driving force. Building upon the Faculty’s established concepts of “talent cultivation” and “internationalization”, we adhered to the principle of “building the Faculty on quality and strengthening it through innovation”, aligning our development with international academic frontiers and deeply integrating into the nation’s broader innovation landscape.

First, optimizing disciplinary layout. Focusing on the development of “New Engineering + Artificial Intelligence”, we actively responded to global technological trends and societal needs. We sequentially launched innovative master’s programmes in FinTech, IoT, AI, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Coastal Environment and Safety, Construction Project Management, Smart Ocean Technology, and Smart Power Grid, expanding our programmes from 19 to 27 in number. In 2022, we established the Department of Ocean Science and Technology, further refining our disciplinary ecosystem and demonstrating the Faculty’s proactive commitment forging into the future and serving Macau.

Second, focusing on substantive development and reshaping academic benchmarks through “high-quality output”. After 7 years of effort, we delivered an inspiring achievement report: the proportion of JCR Q1 papers rose to over 75%; publications in top-tier computer science conferences grew from zero to ranking among the forefront of universities in the Greater Bay Area, with a global top-100 ranking projected by 2025; 6 new colleagues were elected as Fellows in their respective fields; the number of scientists listed in the global top 2% surged from 15 to 37; and a group of professors received prestigious awards such as the “State Scientific and Technological Progress Award”, the “Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize”, and the “Xplorer Prize”. In the 2024 Macau SAR Government Science and Technology Awards, FST accounted for 45% of the recipients, highlighting our deep cultivation in research and teaching. Particularly gratifying is that 9 young professors received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund (HK and Macau). In recent years, we have also cultivated 5 overseas-based young talents who have returned to work at top mainland universities.

These robust data points witness the simultaneous quantitative and qualitative rise of the Faculty’s research competitiveness. Correspondingly, our international reputation has soared: 2 fields, Engineering and Computer Science, entered the top 0.1% globally in ESI rankings for the first time; in the THE World University Rankings by Subject, both fields rose to the 101–125 bracket; and in the U.S. News & World Report and Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, disciplines such as Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Science successfully broke into the global top 100, ranking among the best in the Greater Bay Area.

Chapter 3: The Trinity – A Collaborative Innovation System of Talent, Platforms, and Mechanisms

These achievements are primarily attributable to the synergistic development concept and mutually reinforcing innovation system of “Talent, Platforms, and Mechanisms.” Talent determines the height of originality, platforms enhance capacity, and mechanisms ensure quality and sustainability. The coordination of these 3 elements has continuously fostered an academic environment that “values quality, possesses taste, encourages intersection, and benefits growth”, driving sustainable acceleration in research output, talent cultivation, and social service.

[Talent] People are the main subjects of knowledge innovation; a professor’s innovative thinking and literacy directly impact research outcomes and the quality of talent cultivation. What makes me most proud is that over the past few years, we have recruited over 70 outstanding professors. Almost all new hires hold PhDs or postdoctoral experiences from top overseas universities. Assistant professors from institutions like MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, and ETH are no longer exceptions but are becoming the norm. Their research benchmarks international excellence, bringing new perspectives from the global academic frontier and serving as bridges connecting us to the world.

[Platforms] Platforms, especially those in academic frontiers and interdisciplinary fields, are a crucial means of attracting talent, acting as “building nests to attract phoenixes”. FST assisted in establishing the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI. When I joined UM, the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City and the Institute of Collaborative Innovation (ICI) had just been launched. Aligning with UM’s strategic layout, we actively participated in platform construction, creating collaborative innovation research platforms spanning power electronics, computer science, AI, and civil and environmental engineering. To further promote interdisciplinary integration, since 2018, FST has led the establishment of centers for AI & Robotics, Regional Oceans, Data Science, and Applied Mathematics, aiming to converge innovative wisdom through the intersection of technology and humanities.

Notably, platforms play an irreplaceable role in recruiting international talent. For instance, among the 12 professors recently recruited by the ICI’s Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, more than half are non-Chinese scholars from the US, UK, Germany, France, and other countries. These international teams join for the platforms, providing new opportunities for international collaboration in UM’s future development. Additionally, the newly established Center for Regional Oceans has become a vital cooperation platform linking Lusophone countries in marine research.

Platforms attract talent and also help secure more resources to support collaborative innovation research. After joining UM, leveraging the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City, I served as the principal investigator for 3 major research projects valued at ten million each, including the Ministry of Science and Technology’s key R&D project on “Smart Cities”, Guangdong Province’s key R&D project on “Cloud Data”, and the Macau FDCT project on “Intelligent Driving”. Collaborating with multiple top domestic universities and leading enterprises, we jointly tackled key challenges, providing “UM solutions” for technology implementation while enhancing UM’s academic status and influence within the domestic industry.

[Mechanisms] Talent and platforms complement each other like seeds and soil; seed germination and growth cannot occur without innovative mechanism guarantees. UM originally had an annual FAPA assessment mechanism, but it had become a formality. One of my first tasks upon arrival was to lead the Faculty in reconstructing the FAPA assessment formula, lowering the Faculty’s average score from 9 to 7 to widen the gap, set benchmarks, and ensure that outstanding individuals receive due respect and incentives. We introduced special rewards for faculty achieving “first breakthroughs” in their disciplines, guiding them to progressively aim for top journals and conferences rather than reaching for the stars prematurely.

Simultaneously, we emphasize that paper publication is not the sole path to knowledge innovation. Adhering to a problem-oriented approach and the philosophy that application creates value, we encourage faculty members in technical fields to collaborate extensively with the industry, particularly leading enterprises. Some faculty members arrange for students to participate directly in technology transfer, exploring unique paths for technology serving the industry. Starting in 2025, FST will commend composite talents who excel in both original research and technology transfer.

Today, FST has formed a virtuous ecosystem that respects knowledge innovation and strives for high-quality research. This should be regarded as the most significant breakthrough in the recent development. In 7 years, we have not only passed the torch but also forged a path of innovation characteristic of a research-oriented faculty at UM.

Chapter 4: A Galaxy of Stars – A Review of Representative Achievements

As a comprehensive faculty, FST has achieved remarkable results across various fields. While media coverage has extensively reported on outcomes from the 2 State Key Laboratories, I wish to highlight specific achievements in other areas:

Mathematics: Chair Professor Gui Changfeng of the Department of Mathematics achieved breakthroughs in the best constant problem of the Moser-Trudinger inequality and the existence of solutions for critical exponent elliptic equations, resolving famous mathematical challenges such as the Aubin conjecture, with profound theoretical implications. He published 4 significant papers in top international journals like Inventiones Mathematicae and Journal of the European Mathematical Society, achieving a zero-to-one breakthrough for Macau in the “Big Four” mathematics journals.

Engineering Sciences: Assistant Professor Zhong Junwen of the Department of Electromechanical Engineering focused on intelligent MEMS, conducting outstanding research on microrobots and flexible electromechanical devices. His highly agile electronic insect, published in Science Robotics, marks the first paper by a Macau scholar in this top-tier journal. His developed flexible tactile sensing and feedback devices enable long-distance tactile transmission, applicable to near-realistic online human-machine interaction. He recently received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund.

Computing Technology: Assistant Professor Xu Huanle of the Department of Computer and Information Science specializes in cloud-native architecture and large model infrastructure optimization. He pioneered a shared microservice resource management scheme in Alibaba’s large-scale cloud service scenarios, saving over 50% of computing resources. Targeting Agentic AI, he achieved the first post-training system with shared cache prefixes, reducing model training time by 50%; these results have been integrated into Huawei’s large model training engine. He is a core member of the “Joint Innovation Center for Cloud Infrastructure for Large AI Models” co-built by UM and Alibaba. This laboratory is the 3rd joint lab established by Alibaba nationwide and the 2nd to land in the Greater Bay Area after HKUST.

AI + Health: Chair Professor Cai Xiaochuan, holding joint appointments in Mathematics and Computer Science, has long dedicated himself to interdisciplinary research in AI and healthcare, achieving remarkable results in medical image analysis and intelligent diagnosis. Leveraging big health technologies based on the fusion of AI and HPC, his team has attained clinical effectiveness in basic research and clinical diagnosis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, computational basics of arrhythmia and ECG, and digital diagnosis of liver and kidney diseases. The team’s developed mixed-reality-based virtual diagnostic system significantly improves clinical efficiency, applicable to personalized medicine, preoperative planning, and remote multi-center consultations for difficult cases, yielding significant social and economic benefits.

Technology Transfer: Associate Professor Hao Tianwei of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering made breakthroughs in wastewater treatment and high-value sludge resource utilization. Traditionally viewed as an environmental burden, wastewater and residual sludge have been transformed by Prof. Hao into “green treasures.” On one hand, he developed a new low-carbon wastewater treatment process that drastically reduces energy consumption; the supporting novel biological carrier fillers have been implemented in a wastewater plant in Heilongjiang, withstanding tests in northern cold regions. On the other hand, he achieved high-value monetization of sludge, with high-value resources recovered from sludge now promoted and applied in aquaculture across the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.

These outstanding achievements not only prove the status and influence of FST within the Greater Bay Area and the international academic community but also serve as a direct response to national strategies and Macau’s need for economic diversification, showcasing the commitment of UM’s scientific workers.

Chapter 5: Division for Rebirth – Steady and Orderly Restructuring

The restructuring of the Faculty is not merely an adjustment of administrative architecture but a structural reform aimed at deepening disciplinary layout and stimulating institutional vitality. We have consistently adhered to the principles of “top-level design, smooth transition, and quality first”, focusing on 3 main areas of preparation:

First, optimizing top-level disciplinary design to construct an internationally aligned architecture. FST covered 15 first-level disciplines in the Ministry of Education’s catalog, making it massive in scale. Post-restructuring, the functional positioning of the Faculty of Science (FSC), Faculty of Engineering (FEG), and Faculty of Information Science and Computing (FIC) is clearer and more precise. Notably, the naming of FIC references the “Computing” model of top institutions like MIT and Stanford. Combined with Macau’s realities, it is named “Information Science and Computing”, covering both hardware and software information technologies related to computing while achieving an organic fusion of international vision and local characteristics.

In terms of disciplinary construction, building on the original 29 programmes of FST, the Faculty of Information Science and Computing (FIC) added undergraduate programmes in AI, Electronic and Communication Engineering, Microelectronics, Robotics, and FinTech. The Faculty of Engineering (FEG) inherited programmes in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Electromechanical Engineering (EME), Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Ocean Science and Technology (OST), adding undergraduate programmes in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The Faculty of Science (FSC), building on its existing Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry foundations, added a Biology science programme and split the Physics and Chemistry programmes. Correspondingly, 6 departments were established in both FIC and FEG, and 4 in FSC. This layout aims to allow each disciplinary direction to exert precise efforts in its dedicated track.

Second, reconstructing the talent cultivation system to break barriers and promote interdisciplinary integration. In curriculum and programme settings, we adopted a strategy of “combining old and new, fostering cross-innovation”. For new programmes like AI and Biomedical Engineering, we directly aligned them with the construction of new departments. For traditional programmes like ECE and EME, we broke the conventional “single-department management” mode, implementing cross-faculty and cross-department co-construction. This mechanism innovation aims to dismantle disciplinary barriers, allowing students to gain broader growth spaces in the fertile soil of interdisciplinary studies, truly cultivating composite talents. Simultaneously, quality assurance follows suit; we are actively engaging with the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers to promote accreditation for new disciplines like Biomedical Engineering and AI, ensuring international recognition of our degrees.

Finally, steadily advancing faculty adjustments and new campus expansion to ensure synergistic operation across 2 campuses. In the core link of faculty adjustment, we established the principle of “primary appointment in one department, concurrent appointment for intersection”, ensuring clear academic affiliation for teachers while encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration through concurrent appointments. Currently, some courses are being successfully conducted at the temporary Hengqin site, with more courses scheduled to move there this autumn. For popular graduate courses, we innovatively implemented a “two campuses, same faculty, same quality” teaching model, reasonably arranging for the same instructors to teach, ensuring students at both campuses enjoy equally high-quality educational resources.

Restructuring is a systematic project. Thanks to the understanding and support of all faculty and students, we are confident that this reorganization will further release disciplinary vitality and lay a firmer institutional foundation for the long-term development of UM’s science and engineering disciplines.

Epilogue: Moving Towards the New – A Vision for an Excellent Future

The restructuring of the FST is a critical step in UM’s development journey from “quantitative accumulation” to “qualitative leap”, an inevitable path toward excellence.

After nearly a decade of rapid development, the scale of FST has changed beyond recognition. The faculty size has doubled to 180, and the number of PhD students has exceeded 1,100, with an average of 7 PhD students per supervisor—a ratio far exceeding the conventional limits of similar international research universities. The original “mega-faculty” structure, while historically significant, can no longer encompass new trends in frontier technology and interdisciplinary fields, limiting in-depth disciplinary development to some extent. The restructuring provides us with an excellent opportunity for “expansion and upgrading.” By exerting precise efforts, we will further strengthen our faculty, optimize our disciplinary ecosystem, and truly build the University of Macau into a comprehensive research university with international competitiveness.

Of course, opportunities coexist with challenges. The relocation of FIC and FEG to the Hengqin Cooperation Zone is not just a shift in physical space but a reshaping of our development logic. The new challenge we face is: How do we transition from “based in Macau, moving towards the Bay Area” to the higher requirement of “deeply integrating into the national innovation system”? This demands that we not only solve the “last mile” problem of research implementation but also proactively build an innovation closed loop of deep integration among “industry, academia, research, and application”, directly serving the core needs of the moderate diversification of the Macau-Hengqin economy.

The spirit of “seeking truth and being pragmatic, pioneering and innovating”, accumulated over more than 30 years by FST, is the most valuable asset supporting the new faculties’ steady and far-reaching progress. “Seeking truth and being pragmatic” is the background color of our scholarship; regardless of structural adjustments, our original aspiration for rigorous scholarship and serving society remains unchanged. “Pioneering and innovating” is the driving force of our progress. As Macau formulates its 3rd 5-Year Plan in alignment with the national “15th 5-Year Plan” strategy, the 2026 government policy priorities propose higher requirements for the “high-quality integrated development of education, technology, and talent.” We need to advance the construction of an international education university city and the development of the technology industry with greater courage.

Outside the window, dawn is breaking in the east. A new day is about to begin; a new journey is about to set sail. Let us cherish the beauty of the past and welcome tomorrow’s sunrise with full confidence.

I am confident that, through the concerted efforts of all faculty and students, we will surely fulfill our mission, pass on the torch, and transform the science and technology sector of UM into a teaching, research, and innovation highland with international influence that makes the people of Macau proud. We will contribute the “UM strength” to the self-reliance and self-strengthening of science and technology in the Greater Bay Area and the nation as a whole.

May the 3 new faculties flourish, may UM prosper, and may the seeds of science and technology take root here, growing endlessly and blooming into even more brilliant flowers.

Dean of FST
Cheng-Zhong XU