SDG 4 QUALITY EDUCATION

FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS

Obtaining a higher education degree is important for breaking cycles of exclusion. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 5% of enrolled students identify as first-generation students. This confirms that USJ is proud of its continued success in expanding access to higher education for underrepresented groups and in providing higher education opportunities to students who are the first in their families to enrol in university. This opportunity is also open to international students from low-income countries (as defined by the World Bank).

TEACHER TRAINING

USJ invests greatly in the training of the next generation of teachers. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 33% of graduates obtained teaching qualifications, among whom 39% earned primary school teaching qualifications. We continue to strengthen lifelong learning and inclusive teaching practices. This highlights that we have supported quality education through professional teacher training.

LIFELONG LEARNING

To support the integration of learning throughout life, USJ offers a variety of services and activities targeting the wider community. Our policy ensures that all services and activities are accessible to all, regardless of age, ethnicity, religion, disability, or gender. Our educational outreach programme for prison inmates, running since 2009, provides incarcerated individuals access to higher education and contributes to their eventual reintegration into society. In the academic year 2024-2025, we celebrated Lifelong Learning at USJ through the “Silver-Haired Dreams Take Flight” program. The diverse group included seniors from the local community, elderly volunteers, young volunteers, and social work students from USJ. This demonstrates our commitment to promoting intergenerational engagement and lifelong learning.

Our University Library is open to the community, welcoming readers regardless of their status as students or staff. During the 2024-2025 academic year, we further strengthened access to quality learning resources by inaugurating the USJ Guilherme Lo Teresa Lei Lo Library at the heart of our Ilha Verde Campus (main campus), a powerful sign of our commitment to the search for truth and to providing modern facilities that promote inclusive and equitable quality education. USJ provides public events, vocational training programmes, and education outreach activities to support the community’s continued learning..

DEDICATION TO QUALITY EDUCATION

USJ is dedicated to delivering inclusive, quality education through a range of educational programmes and initiatives. USJ Rector, Rev’d Prof. Stephen Morgan, is a member of the Macao Higher Education Committee. Through our School of Education’s participation in the inclusive education training at Chongqing Normal University, we strengthened our faculty’s expertise in inclusive practices, gained valuable insights into the application of inclusive education global practices and enhanced strategies to support students with diverse learning needs, including the use of assessment methods in the digital age of children with special needs. This exemplifies our commitment to inclusive and equitable quality education.