Retiring after 36 years at the service of the University of Macau, former rector Iu Vai Pan reflects on an eventful and impactful path of building a comprehensive university amid the city’s extraordinary transformations and on his dedication to nurturing local talent across the board, including a strong focus on civil engineering.
By José Carlos Matias
“I remember quite well my first lecture,” Iu Vai Pan says, going back in time to that year of 1988. As the civil engineering program would only be established in the following year, he started teaching computing. “I was definitely very nervous at that time, so I had to prepare everything. I even prepared my script.” Once he got on stage, however, he started to feel at ease. “I ended up not going according to my script. It wasn’t that difficult.”
“There was a lot of work and a lot of things to learn. We wanted to build a better university”
Early days and pioneering efforts
Professor Iu was indeed about to embark on a largely unscripted journey to steer a once-in-a-lifetime transformation and expansion of the city’s leading university as he served as Rector during the crucial 1998-2009 period. Back in 1988, Macau had just entered a pivotal period of history with the 1987 signing of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration in the run-up to the 1999 handover.
Two years earlier, Professor Iu had completed a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Structural Mechanics at the University of Hong Kong, after earning a master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. The university was about to undergo a crucial transformation, as the Macau Portuguese administration acquired the then University of East Asia, which would be renamed the University of Macau in 1991.
With the retrocession of Macau approaching, the Government moved to establish a proper and comprehensive university to train local human resources and have more teachers, lawyers, and engineers to better prepare the city for the post-handover period.
“It became easy for us [with the gaming and tourism boom] to promote the university because there were a lot of job opportunities”
Steering through changes
In the 1990s, Professor Iu became the leading Macau-born university officer as he served first as associate dean and then as dean of the Faculty of Science, before taking office as Rector in 1999. “During the transition [handover] period, the government put more effort and allocated more financial resources to support the university,” Professor Iu notes, as he welcomed Macau Business at UM’s Stanley Ho East Asia College, where he served as College Master over the past years.
The ensuing nine years would see transformations in the city beyond imagination with the establishment of the SAR and the liberalization of the gaming industry, resulting in staggering growth. For the university, it was a time of rapid change. “There was a lot of work and a lot of things to learn. We wanted to build a better university.” New faculties and departments were set up, student enrollment expanded, and a new wave of lecturers and researchers from around the world settled in Macau.
After the handover, Macau entered a new stage under the One Country Two Systems policy. With massive infrastructure developments arising from the gaming and tourism boom, tiny Macau suddenly became the world’s top gaming and integrated resorts jurisdiction. For many programs, “it became easy for us to promote the university because there were a lot of job opportunities,” he recalls.
With new, massive resorts being erected, foreign investments and expertise flocked to town, bringing many top-notch professionals from whom graduates could benefit. This bolstered several UM programs, including civil engineering. Professor Iu’s involvement in strengthening the city’s human capital extended beyond the university’s walls, as he played a key role in the Architecture, Engineering and Urbanism Council (CAEU).
Launched in 2015 and presided over by UM Vice Rector and internationally renowned Electrical Engineering scholar Rui Martins, CAEU deals with the accreditation and registration of degree holders in various engineering fields. Professor Iu is the chair of CAEU’s accreditation committee.
“I worry about future generations as they rely too much on something other than their own skills and direct feelings, risking losing some of our sensorial human instincts.”
Lasting impact
Does Macau need new tertiary education programs in these fields? With regards to civil engineering, Professor Iu states: “I don’t see there is a big gap in terms of supply and demand.” While most of the city’s large-scale resorts are basically completed, important renovations are planned for the coming years which “also require a lot of other skills, apart from civil engineering, such as mechanical or electrical engineering.”
Several public infrastructure projects are underway or in the pipeline, including housing construction on new land reclamations, tunnels, and the expansion of the LRT network. “There’s still a lot of work in terms of engineering, civil engineering, and construction.” Opportunities for local engineering graduates also exist across the border, likely to intensify as the Greater Bay Area regional integration, with a focus on Hengqin, gains pace.
As a result of these policies by the central government, “they will welcome Macau people to live and work there [in the mainland],” Professor Iu stresses, adding that having these opportunities “is a good direction.”
Iu Vai Pan expresses care and concern about the future of mankind’s cognitive development amid an overwhelming dependence on the acquisition of knowledge merely through digital platforms and with the fast-paced rise of artificial intelligence. “I worry about future generations as they rely too much on something other than their own skills and direct feelings, risking losing some of our sensorial human instincts.” The outcome may be: “You don’t know how to make or fix things. Just replace things.” Learning not by directly experiencing and sensing things but only by seeing them on screens has a deep impact probably yet to be grasped.
Despite all his administrative duties, Professor Iu made sure to continue teaching even during his nine-year rectorship. “Teaching is important for me, for my psychology,” he expresses, believing that even when one is holding a top management position at a university, “we need to also keep the connection with the students.”
Following such a prolific career as a professor and university officer, what lies ahead for Iu Vai Pan after the end of his full-time link with UM in late July? “I may choose something I like to do.” Teaching? “Yes, if someone asks me to, but I would prefer to teach in an informal way, like talking with students to help them.”
