From May 31 to July 12, 2021, the first session of Greater Bay Area Renowned Lecturers’ Forum was successfully held online by GDUFS. The forum, sponsored by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of GDUFS and organized by the Faculty of European Languages and Cultures of GDUFS, is a series of activities composed of three lectures and a discussion-and-study activity. Renowned lecturers from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao were invited as keynote speakers, including Ding Hao, Deputy Dean of the School of Business of GDUFS, Roberval Teixeira E Silva, assistant professor and researcher of the Portuguese Department of the University of Macau, Lin Guowei, professional consultant and director of the master program of cultural management of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The speeches, covering topics of economy and trade, language and culture, art and culture, have attracted more than 300 students, a majority of whom are from universities in the Greater Bay Area, namely, Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Professional and Continuing Education of the University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou Xinhua University and GDUFS.

On May 31, the opening ceremony of the forum and the first lecture were officially kicked off. After the opening ceremony, Ding Hao gave a lecture entitled "The evolution and pattern of monetary finance in the Greater Bay Area", in which he sorted out the historical context of monetary development in Hong Kong and Macao in a chronological order, discussed the evolution of currency and changes of international monetary policy, explored the origin of currency and finance, and outlined the future development pattern of finance in the Greater Bay Area.


On June 10, the second session of the forum was held as scheduled. Roberval Teixeira E Silva, a well-known scholar majoring in Portuguese and an assistant professor and researcher of the Portuguese Department of the University of Macau, was invited to deliver a lecture entitled "The identity and orientation of faculties and students in Paulo Freire's philosophy of education". Based on the educational theory of Paulo Freire, a famous educator in Brazil, Roberval expounded the close relationship between education and human consciousness and showed the faculties and students a series of processes and achievements of the educator in the elimination of literacy among adults. In addition, Roberval also shared his observations and research on Portuguese classroom interaction with faculties and students from the Greater Bay Area, after which they enthusiastically expressed their views and opinions, and the professor then had a Q&A with them.


The third session of the forum was held on June 18. Dr. Lin Guowei from the Chinese University of Hong Kong delivered a lecture entitled "Exploring the development of performing arts in Hong Kong" for faculties and students from the Greater Bay Area. Lin started with the "nine troupes" of Hong Kong performing arts, introduced the Hong Kong SAR Government's subsidy management system for performing arts groups, discussed the existing survival and development challenges for Hong Kong performing arts groups, and put forward his views and reference on the overall development of Hong Kong performing arts and the exploration of performing arts integration in the Greater Bay Area. During the Q&A, Lin discussed several topics including Macao's performing arts situation and cooperation with Portuguese-speaking nations, the exchanges between performing arts groups from Hong Kong and Chinese mainland, and the prospects for cultural development in Hong Kong.

On July 12, the discussion-and-study activity was held as scheduled. Students from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao were divided into six groups, giving their presentations on such topics as "the influence of Portuguese culture on the Greater Bay Area", "the exploration of language development in the Greater Bay Area", "a discussion on the inheritance and development of catering culture (skills) on the list of intangible cultural heritage in the Greater Bay Area", "the exploration of the Greater Bay Area’s culture - an awakening lion of Guangfu culture", "a brief discussion on real estate investment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", and "a shallow discussion on the educational development in the Greater Bay Area". With these presentations, they shared their views and understanding of the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in terms of culture, language, education and economy.

The three special lectures and the discussion-and-study activity, which lasted for one and a half months, then came to a successful end. The program won high praise from the students from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao for its substantial contents. The students on the program expressed great hope for the GBA development.

The “Greater Bay Area Renowned Lecturers’ Forum” is part of the "Greater Bay Area Virtual Campus" program, which is an innovative move taken by GDUFS to overcome the impacts of COVID-19 on the cross-border flow of students. The program aims to make full use of the Internet and virtual reality technology, realize the sharing of curriculum resources between GDUFS and universities in Hong Kong and Macao, and cultivate international high-quality talents.