The School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, ESTM - IPL is located in Peniche, Portugal, facing the Atlantic Ocean, one hour by car from Lisbon to the North. ESTM - IPL is a privileged place to study, with fine people, Berlengas' natural marine reserve as landscape, sandy beaches and many diving and surf spots in the vicinity. The School of Tourism and Maritime Technology is a public school of higher education that promotes knowledge, creates, transmits and disseminates culture, science, technology, guided research and experimental development. Furthermore, ESTM has a strong connection to the community that surrounds it and the quality patterns that lead it also intend to provide a suitable answer to the needs of the region. The Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (IPL) is located in the Leiria district and integrates 11,500 students and 885 teachers. ESTM is one of the schools of IPL, it has 130 teachers and 15000 students.
Established in 1995, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) offers the most extensive selection of tourism and hospitality related bachelor degree programmes in Macao, and about twenty thousand participants attend its vocational and professional training courses annually. IFT collaborates with 104 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 500 leading tourism and hospitality corporations to offer internship opportunities to its students. Being the first institution accredited by the UNWTO.TedQual Certification System for tourism education, IFT has now 8 bachelor degree programmes with the Certification. Currently, the Institute has the most number of bachelor degree programmes certified under the System of any tertiary education establishment worldwide. In 2017, IFT became the world’s first higher education institution to pass International Quality Review (IQR) from the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). IFT has been highly ranked by QS World University Rankings in the subject area of Hospitality and Leisure Management. In addition, IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and twice won the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
