University of Macau

1981–1991

In March 1981, the private University of East Asia was established. In the beginning, the majority of the students came from Hong Kong.^{[citation needed]}

With the signing of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration in 1987, in order to meet the manpower needs during the transitional period before the return of Macao, the Macao Foundation under the Government of Portuguese Macau purchased the private University of East Asia in 1988 for 130 million patacas.^{[citation needed]}

Post-1991

In 1991, the Legislative Assembly of Macau promulgated Decree-Law No. 50/91/M to establish the University of Macau as a new institution of higher education, and transfer all rights of the University of East Asia to the University of Macau without any formalities. All higher education courses, teachers and administrative staff of the University of East Asia, except for polytechnic higher education programmes, were also transferred to the University of Macau. The then Polytechnic Institute of the University of East Asia became independent as the public Macau Polytechnic Institute (now Macau Polytechnic University). The graduate school and the open college of the University of East Asia that were not purchased by the Macau government, were merged to form the private East Asia Open College (now City University of Macau).^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, the handover of Macau to China took place. The new Judicial Regime of the University of Macau and the new Charter of the University of Macau were officially passed at the Legislative Assembly of Macau and came into effect in September 2006.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, the Central People's Government of China authorised the Government of Macao to exercise jurisdiction over the new campus of the university located on Hengqin Island, Guangdong province. On 20 December 2009, then President of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party Hu Jintao officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus. In early 2013 the Macau Legislative Assembly passed Law 3/2013 providing for the application of Macau Law on campus effective on opening day. On 5 November, then Vice Premier of the State Council Wang Yang officiated for the new campus inauguration ceremony. In the 2014–2015 academic year, the University of Macau began to conduct all classes on the new and modern campus.^{[citation needed]}

Faculty students and Macau residents can enter and exit the campus through an underwater tunnel. This means there are no border controls between the university and Macau.

With the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the University of Macau has established three state key laboratories, namely State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, and State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City.

In 2016, the University of Macau established a residential college system similar to that of Oxbridge in the United Kingdom.

One university, Two campuses

On January 14,2024,The University of Macau announced plans to build a new campus in the western part of Hengqin island, which will be half size of the current campus. On December 12,2025, construction of University of Macau’s Campus in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone officially began, which located in Hengqin Macao-Hengqin International Education (University) Town.

On August 1, 2026, as part of the cross-border and integrated development strategy for the "One university, Two campuses", Faculty of Science was reorganized into three faculties: Faculty of Information Science and Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science. Meanwhile, Faculty of Health and Science was expanded into Faculty of Medicine, and Faculty of Design was established as a new faculty.