A computer scientist who rose to senior research vice president at a top American engineering university crossed the sea to Macau and, on a stretch of reclaimed land in Hengqin, oversaw the building of a new campus roughly twenty times the size of the old one.
Wei Zhao is the 8th Rector of the University of Macau (2008–2017), a computer scientist. The most historically consequential work of his tenure was leading the planning of UM's new Hengqin campus and the wholesale relocation in 2014 — the first university campus, under "one country, two systems", authorised by Beijing to operate on mainland soil under Macao law.
Profile
- Chinese Name: 趙偉
- English Name: Wei Zhao
- Domains: Academia
- Industry: Higher education · Computer science
- Subject type: Academic (former Rector of the University of Macau)
- Education: B.S. in physics, Shaanxi Normal University (1982); M.S. (1983) and PhD (1986) in computer science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
- Rectorship: 2008–2017
Background
Zhao earned a B.S. in physics from Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an in 1982, then moved to the United States, where he took an M.S. (1983) and a PhD (1986) in computer science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His scholarly fields are real-time systems and network and information security.
Before Macau he had a long American academic career: he taught at Texas A&M University from 1990 to 2007, chaired the computer-science department (1997–2001), and served as senior associate vice president for research (2001–2007); in 2007–2008 he was dean of science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. That experience running research administration at major American research universities formed the professional basis of his rectorship.
Career
I. American academia: from professor to research vice president (1986–2008)
The first half of Zhao's career was in the United States. Over seventeen years at Texas A&M he rose from professor to senior associate vice president for research, coordinating the research enterprise of a large public research university; he was elected an IEEE Fellow in 2001. He then briefly served as dean of science at Rensselaer. This research-university management track gave him directly relevant experience for a University of Macau that aimed to upgrade itself from a local institution into an internationalised research university.
II. Rector of the University of Macau and the Hengqin relocation (2008–2017)
Zhao became Rector of the University of Macau in 2008. The defining achievement of his tenure — both in engineering and in policy — was the building of UM's new Hengqin campus: in 2009 the NPC Standing Committee authorised the university to build a new campus on Hengqin Island governed under Macao law; the campus was completed in 2013, and UM relocated wholesale in 2014. The new campus is roughly twenty times the area of the old one. On that footing he expanded the residential-college system, broadened the disciplinary base, and raised international rankings, developing UM into a comprehensive university with real standing in Asia.
III. Departure and the contract-termination controversy (2017–2018)
In 2017 the UM University Council launched a worldwide search for the next rector, and Zhao indicated he would not seek renewal. His resignation took effect on 31 December 2017, and Yonghua Song succeeded him in January 2018. Zhao then moved to the United Arab Emirates as Chief Research Officer of the American University of Sharjah. The process around the termination of his contract became a public controversy with competing accounts, and then-Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam subsequently ordered an investigation into the matter. This profile records the controversy neutrally, citing only public reporting and making no unverified allegations.
Public Character
Zhao's public image is bound tightly to the Hengqin campus — he was the executing rector of the largest expansion in UM's history. His computer-science and research-university-management background positions him as an "engineering-and-research-administration" type of rector. The contract dispute at his departure adds a public episode to his tenure that has to be handled with care. This profile draws only on public academic and institutional records, does not address private life, and keeps the controversy in neutral terms.
Key Achievements
- 8th Rector of the University of Macau (2008–2017), leading the construction of the Hengqin campus and the wholesale relocation in 2014
- Developed UM from a limited local institution into a comprehensive university with influence in Asia
- IEEE Fellow (2001)
- Chair of computer science (1997–2001) and senior associate vice president for research at Texas A&M University (2001–2007)
- Dean of science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2007–2008)
- Chief Research Officer of the American University of Sharjah (from 2018)
Information compiled from University of Macau official news and former-rectors pages, Macau Daily Times, Macau Business, and Wikipedia (en), among other publicly available sources. Note: sources variously give Zhao's departure year as 2017 or 2018; this profile uses "resignation effective 31 December 2017; Yonghua Song took office 9 January 2018." If anything is inaccurate or needs updating, please contact us — we aim to respond within 48 hours.
