Universidade e Baía de Pac On 大學及北安灣區

Setting and landscape

Taipa was once two islets, Taipa Grande (大氹) and Taipa Pequena (小氹), joined by a sandbar, and that sandbar lay where City University of Macau, formerly the University of Macau, stands today. Pac On Bay (Praia de Pac On) is already named on a 1912 map of Taipa; DSEC counts its reclaimed land separately from the Pac On industrial area.

History

On 12 March 1979 the government leased a 100,000-square-metre site on Pac On hill (北安山) on Taipa to a Hong Kong company for a new university. The University of East Asia (東亞大學) held its founding ceremony on 28 March 1981 and, leaving aside a short-lived university set up in 1980, was Macau's first modern institution of higher education. The government-led Macau Foundation bought it in 1988 and made it public, and in 1991 it was renamed the University of Macau.

The University of Macau left for a new campus on Hengqin (橫琴), in use from 5 November 2013 and 20 times the size of the old one; DSEC lists that campus as a separate zone, 99.

What to see

The old campus now serves two institutions. City University of Macau (澳門城市大學) grew from the East Asia Open College, formed from the University of East Asia's graduate school and open college, became the Asia International Open University in 1992 and took its present name in 2011. In 2015 its headquarters moved back into part of the original University of East Asia site, including the administration building and the Cultural Centre.

The Institute for Tourism Studies, renamed the Macao University of Tourism (澳門旅遊大學) on 1 April 2024, has its Taipa campus here in four buildings of the old campus. Students moved into the East Asia Hall at the end of 2015 and the Staff Quarter building was set aside to serve as a training hotel for students. The former University of Macau Library, on a small hill, was renamed the Forward Building (展望樓) in 2016, and the Jubilee Building (銀禧樓) opened on 6 November 2020.

Highlights

• Former University of Macau campus 澳門大學舊校園: Site of the University of East Asia, founded in 1981 as Macau's first modern institution of higher education.
• Forward Building 展望樓: The former University of Macau Library on a small hill, renamed in 2016 as a teaching building of the tourism university.
• City University of Macau 澳門城市大學: Moved its headquarters into part of the original University of East Asia site in 2015.
• Pac On Bay 北安灣: Bay already named on a 1912 map of Taipa; its reclaimed land gives the zone the second half of its name.