The University of Macau is the public research university of Macau and the leading tertiary institution serving the city. The university is physically located on territory leased by the Macau government on Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, Guangdong, Mainland China, where it moved in 2014, after more than thirty years of growth. Founded in 1981 as the University of East Asia, 18 years before the transfer of Macau from Portugal to China, the University of Macau is the Special Administrative Region's (SAR) first modern university and the largest university in terms of faculty size and programmes offered.