Andrew Moody Department of English University of Macau email: amoody@umac.mo English-medium Higher Education at the University of Macau

The University of Macau is a public English-medium university in the Macao SAR (i.e. Special Administrative Region) of China. Despite the fact that English does not have a de jure official status within the region, there is a long-standing tradition of English-medium education with the SAR, and English-medium higher education fits seamlessly into the educational traditions and practices in Macao. The status of English in Macao contrasts with the status of Portuguese, which, despite the fact that it does enjoy official status, is not widely used as medium of instruction. While census figures regarding language use suggest that there is support for English-medium education with Macao, recent years have also seen increasing support for education within Putonghua as a medium of instruction. The University of Macau has found that English-medium higher education is one point that attracts a number of undergraduate and graduate students from the Mainland of China, the demographic group that is largely responsible for the University's growth.


Andrew Moody is Associate Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Macau where he teaches Sociolinguistics. His research interests are in varieties of English and language in popular culture.