(9 May,
2008, Macao) The University
of Macau (UM) and the
Venetian Cotai Limited signed a cooperation agreement today (9th). According to
the agreement, the Venetian will sponsor UM in opening an advanced education
centre and support courses and professional trainings offered by the University
in the area of non-gaming education. . In this way, the Centre will help drive
the development of Macao’s
higher education and human resources.
The agreement signing ceremony was officiated by Prof. Iu
Vai Pan, Rector of UM and Mr. William P. Weidner, President and Chief Operating
Officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. at the Senate Room of UM with witness from Ms.
Noémia Lameiras, Deputy Director of the Labour Affairs Bureau, Dr. Tse Chi Wai,
Chair of the Council of the University of Macau, Prof. Rui Martins and Dr. Alex
Lai, the Vice-rectors of UM, Mr. Stephen Weaver, President of the Asian Region,
Mr. Eric Chiu, President of Asian Development, Mr. Daniel Shim, Senior Vice
President of Human Resources - Asia.
The Centre
sponsored by the Venetian will be named the Adelson Advanced Education Centre
of University of Macau and located at The Grand Canal Shoppes of The Venetian
Macao-Resort-Hotel. The Centre will have
an area of 15,446 square feet including one big lecture hall with seating
capacity of 100 persons, six multi-function classrooms with seating capacity
ranging from 30 to 48, two meeting rooms and one Small-Medium Enterprise
Resources Centre of 500 square feet. The
primary use of the Centre is for courses and programs
relating to business education and management in the areas of MICE, Hospitality,
Entertainment, Retail and Integrated
resort.
Rector Iu
stressed that the Venetian has been very supportive of our university by
providing generous offer of scholarship and fellowship to our students and
funding to the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming (ISCG) for research
on the gaming industry and professional training for gaming practitioners. In addition, senior staff of the Venetian has
participated in several programs in our University providing their valuable
expertise and insights to graduate and undergraduate students as well as to
many of our professors. At the same
time, we are working closely with the Venetian to help develop management
development programs for selected segments of the entry professionals at the
Venetian. The signing of this agreement today will constitute another fine
example of cooperation between the industry and academia with the common goal
of human resource development.
Mr.
William P. Weidner said the Centre is a cooperative project with UM and the
Venetian will contribute around MOP100,000,000 for the first 3 years in the total
construction and operating cost. The Venetian
will also manage the facility and provide relevant
professional expertise to UM in operating the advanced training courses. Mr.
Weidner said this project will provide Macao
residents, students of the University and staff of the Venetian with valuable
training opportunities and enhance the professional standard of the local work
force.