New UM rector in 2018

The University of Macau (UM) Rector Wei Zhao has announced that he won’t be seeking to renew his position as rector, when his current term expires in 2018, as stated in a press release by the educational institution.
Having served as rector since 2008, Mr. Wei will finish his decade in the role, marked by a transformation of the university from ‘a local higher education institution with rather humble beginnings to a comprehensive university with a definite degree of influence in Asia’.
The university also added that in order to ensure a ‘smooth transition’ it would establish a selection committee to prepare a ‘worldwide search’ for the recruitment of a new rector, in accordance with the University Charter and Internal Regulations.
In a response to the press, the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture stated it ‘respected’ UM’s autonomy to choose a new rector and the decision taken by Mr. Wei, adding that it is up to the University Council to recruit and propose a candidate for rector, which will then be nominated by the Chief Executive.
The university also announced yesterday that a paper co-authored by UM Professor Yuen Ka-Veng was ranked the second most cited paper among over 120 papers published in 2015 and 2016 in the ‘Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering’ journal.