Portugal’s president, Cavaco Silva, met during May with SISU President Cao Deming to promote SISU-Portugal cooperation.
Silva was at SISU for the signing of documents for a cooperative “2+2” dual-degree program between SISU and the School of Business and Economics from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a pioneering university in Portuguese education reform.
Silva and Cao also unveiled a plaque for the newly established SISU’s Center for Portuguese Studies, and visited an exposition about “Economic Potential of the Portuguese Language.” Professor Marçal Grilo of the Portuguese Gulbenkian Foundation exhibited “Saber Português,” an online platform to study Portuguese.
Accompanied by Cao and China’s ambassador to Portugal, Silva also participated in SISU’s “Value of Languages” seminar. Participants analyzed the topic from various angles including “institutions,” “scholars” and “cultural industries.”
Silva, who said he appreciated the presentations by Chinese and Portuguese scholars, emphasized that Portuguese, the world’s sixth most common language, plays an important role in the global communication, economics and culture. He also said he valued SISU’s educational achievements, especially in teaching the profession, and researching, the translating and interpreting of Portuguese. Silva said he hopes more Portuguese students will study at SISU, which will enhance each culture’s mutual understanding.
Cao noted that Silva’s visit coincided with the 35th anniversary of Sino-Portuguese diplomatic ties. He said SISU has had a close relationship with Portugal, while the two countries generally have fruitfully cooperated in recent years in politics, education, economics and business. Cao also said SISU is trying to work more with Portuguese universities.
SISU’s teaching of Portuguese language started in 1977, cultivating more than 200 graduates proficient in Portuguese to play active roles in various industries worldwide.
Portuguese has more than 220 million users and is the most used language in the Southern Hemisphere. Languages that have more native speakers than Portuguese are: Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish.
