38 / / 39 In 2009, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved the construction of a new campus for UM on Hengqin Island in Guangdong Province of China, and authorised the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to exercise jurisdiction over the new campus in accordance with the laws of the SAR. On 20th December in the same year, Hu Jintao, then President of the People's Republic of China, personally presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the new campus. Since then, the People’s Central Government and the Macao SAR Government entrusted the UM with an important historic mission: To become a world-class university. In 2013, Mr. Wang Yang, then Vice Premier of the State Council, presided over the inauguration of the new campus. In 2014, campus relocat ion was successful ly completed and classes officially commenced in the new campus. In the same year, President Xi Jinping made an inspection of the new campus on 20th December and offered his endorsement of UM’s many innovative ideas in higher education. The new campus has provided UM with the conditions and opportunity to strengthen and further develop its undergraduate education. Higher education institutions today cannot simply focus on providing academic education only. In this rapidly changing society, academic knowledge may swiftly become outdated. More often than not, even before they graduate, some of the knowledge that have learnt may become outdated and lag behind current advances. Given this situation, the mission of universities cannot be limited to academic education, but should instead include the goal of providing students with a series of different experiential learning experiences intended to stimulate their personal development and instil a sense of social responsibi l i ty. Wi th this broader educat ional Origin and Philosophy Chapter 3 concept, while academic education remains a basic responsibility of universities, it cannot be their primary focus in educating students as for the research-oriented institutions of the post-war years. To better adapt to this new era of constant change and contribute to society, students need to go outside their classrooms in order to develop diverse skills, creativity, original thinking, analytical reasoning, ethics, adaptability and optimism. The community education in RCs is an effective means to cultivate these practical skills and attitudes, mainly because learning in the RCs extends beyond the classroom and involves interaction with and influence of peers in different settings. Such a community learning model for higher education has been in practice at many leading universities in the world, with proven success. This model has also proven to be highly successful. In light of this, when constructing the new campus, the UM decided to transform itself from a university primarily for commuter students into a collegiate university, offering community and experiential educat ion through RCs in complementary to traditional discipline-specific education. At the outset, the university set the twin goals of fostering both talent and virtue as the general direction for its undergraduate education by adopting the unique and pioneering 4-in-1 education model consisting of discipline-specific education, general education, research and internship education, and community and peer education. The aim here is to nurture self-reflective, caring and socially responsible students who will be able to grow and achieve in a multicultural and challenging environment. This educational model embodies the university’s overall educational vision for our students, and each undergraduate student must fulfil requirements in all four aspects in order to graduate. 憭㝕⛿㶇䑑剹ꯗ1.0曭 UM Residential College Education 1.0 睙◝ꌄ | PART II
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