FT Tourism College has the greatest choice of programmes in Macao that lead to bachelor’s degrees tailored to meet the expectations of the tourism and hospitality industries. The College has built a global network of partners and employs academics from around the world. In this international setting, teaching staff are empowered to deliver the best theoretical and practical education.
Students at the IFT Tourism College benefit from specialised training facilities that include a training restaurant, training hotel, mock-ups of a hotel front desk and housekeeping room, several Chinese and Western kitchens that are often used for demonstrations, a heritage documentation laboratory, and state-of-the-art classrooms.
The unmatched educational experience that the College gives encompasses off-campus activities that broaden the horizons of undergraduates. These activities include field trips and tours which show students the realities and the latest operations of the tourism and hospitality industries.
The IFT Tourism College is known throughout Macao for its innovative approach to teaching, which turns the classroom into a place for learning about the real world by integrating theory and practice. Students taking bachelor’s degree programmes have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through projects such as arranging charity events with good social causes and fund-raising purpose, compiling food guides and giving Macao enterprises business consultancy services.
A TRUE TEST OF ABILITY
Completing a 6-month internship is mandatory for IFT undergraduates in their third year. And, before they are allowed to graduate, all students taking daytime programmes leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science must produce a thesis. No other institution of tertiary education in Macao has this combination of requirements. Students can choose to do their internship in Macao or one of many other places abroad, such as Thailand, the Maldives, France, Portugal, New Zealand or the United States.
OUR BACHELOR DEGREE PROGRAMMES
– Bachelor of Science in Heritage Management
– Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management
– Bachelor of Science in Tourism Business Management
– Bachelor of Science in Tourism Event Management
– Bachelor of Science in Tourism Retail and Marketing Management
OUR ACADEMIC STAFF
Our academic staff come from around the globe and all are committed to academic excellence and to providing outstanding support for our students.
OF EMPLOYERS WERE SATISFIED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF IFT GRADUATES, A 2016 IFT EMPLOYER SURVEY FOUND
THE POPULAR CHOICE
IFT is proud to say it is the educational institution of choice among young people in Macao who seek a degree custom-made for the tourism and hospitality industries. IFT is equally proud of being among the foremost institutions selected by students from abroad that demand a quality education acquired in an international environment.
2016/17 GRADUATES
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CULINARY ARTS MANAGEMENT
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TOURISM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
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HERITAGE MANAGEMENT
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HOTEL MANAGEMENT
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HOTEL MANAGEMENT (EVENING)
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TOURISM EVENT MANAGEMENT
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TOURISM EVENT MANAGEMENT (EVENING)
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TOURISM RETAIL AND MARKETING MANAGEMENT
CANDIDATES WERE AWARDED BACHELOR’S DEGREES IN 2016/17
STUDENTS ENROLLED IN BACHELOR DEGREE PROGRAMMES IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/17
TOTAL
OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/17 WERE FROM OUTSIDE MACAO
NATIONALITIES WERE REPRESENTED AMONG STUDENTS ENROLLED IN 2016/17
A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
Suey Chan
Hotel Management student
The high-end Junoon Restaurant in New York, which serves Indian cuisine, took on IFT student Suey Chan as an intern in the second semester of academic year 2016/17. Junoon has a creative take on Indian cuisine that has made it one of the top places to eat in New York and earned it a star in the Michelin Guide.
Suey says the internship gave her the chance to experience different cultures in an upscale setting and to put to use the skills she learned at the Institute. “I learned more about the operation of a fine-dining restaurant, including the workflow and the table setting,” she says. “Even if my bachelor’s degree is in Hotel Management, the scope of my learning should be wider than that. That means my future is not limited to only one direction.”
She says her experience in New York helped her improve her communication skills. “Although you learn a lot at IFT, you still feel nervous when you enter the industry,” she says. “You may feel you must learn everything from scratch. But once you are used to the workplace, you then find you can use a lot of what you have learned at IFT.”
STUDENT RESEARCH
IFT requires all students taking daytime programmes leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science to write a thesis as part of their course of study. The Institute was the first institution of higher education in Macao with this requirement.
It has been mandatory since academic year 2015/16 for each candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Science enrolled in a daytime programme at IFT to complete a thesis before he or she can graduate. The purpose of this requirement is to give undergraduates the chance to think independently, and to develop critical and analytical skills.
Students must come up with their own research proposals and write a thesis under the guidance of a supervisor. The work must be based on the results of original research undertaken by the author.
Each student has the support of a content supervisor and a language supervisor. The content supervisor gives guidance that helps the undergraduate conceptualise and design the project. The language supervisor will advise about the composition of the text, to ensure it is clear and accurate. All theses are written in English.
The IFT thesis requirement has drawn international attention since its introduction. Many students have been invited to international conferences and similar events to present research papers based on their theses.
In academic year 2016/17, research papers were presented by 7 IFT students at the International Student Conference in Tourism Research (ISCONTOUR 2017), which took place in May 2017 in the Austrian city of Salzburg. The conference is an occasion for the transfer of knowledge and networking among graduates, academics, researchers and people working in tourism.
BEST OF THE BEST
The IFT Tourism Education Student Summit, called the TEd Summit, is held at the end of each semester. The event celebrates outstanding research done by students for their undergraduate theses.
The best theses written during the semester are presented in public at TEd Summit. Panels made up of figures in the tourism industry and IFT academics evaluate each of the presentations, and scholarships are awarded to exceptional students.
The proceedings of each TEd Summit are published online by IFT at its website.
STUDENTS COMPLETED AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/17
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
The curriculum at IFT Tourism College emphasises learning by undertaking projects. In doing projects, the students find themselves in situations and facing challenges of the sort they may encounter in their careers and lives outside of IFT. Students learn to collaborate in small groups and acquire skills they can apply in any endeavour.
A group of Year 2 IFT students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Tourism Event Management staged a catering event intended to teach Primary 5 pupils of the Macau Anglican College about healthy eating habits and sustainable consumption.
IFT students put on the demonstration in May 2017 with the cooperation of the Macau Slow Food Association. About 100 pupils attended. IFT students had the task of raising the money to pay for the event and the MOP7,951 surplus was given to the Fuhong Society of Macau for its work with people with mental disabilities.
A party of Year 4 students taking the evening programme leading to a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Event Management visited the conference and exhibition facilities at the Venetian Macao integrated resort in June 2017. All were Year 4 students taking the course on Service Quality Management. The purpose of the visit was to teach them more about managing the quality of service in the meetings and exhibitions industry.
Sands China Ltd. Conventions and Exhibitions Quality Management Manager Mr. Geraldo Tou began by giving the visitors a talk on quality management. The students then split into 4 groups to pose as customers and inspect the quality of the service given at the facilities.
The Venetian Macao has been accommodating such field trips by IFT students for 3 years in a row.
Some IFT Tourism Event Management undergraduates in Year 3 of their degree programme teamed up to arrange a heritage interpretation event which was held in November 2016. The purpose of the “Endless Passion” event was to increase public awareness of the need to preserve the intangible heritage of Macao. The event did so by highlighting the part played by traditional Cantonese pastries in the history and culture of the city.
Presentations, displays of exhibits and food stalls took those attending back to the 1960s – the golden age of Cantonese pastries to many people’s point of view. The IFT students had to raise the money for the event, and they collected more than enough. They gave the surplus to the ECF Fellowship Orphanage, to go toward the education of the children there.
In the second semester of academic year 2016/17 a group of Year 4 IFT students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Heritage Management put on a celebration of the cultural wealth of the Mong-Há Hill area. The event was entitled “Capture Moments, Reconnect Mong-Há”. The project was part of the course on Cultural Mapping. The aim was to give the community a better understanding of the cultural heritage to be found locally.
Two internationally renowned specialists in heritage gave the students guidance. One was Dr. Richard Engelhardt. Dr. Engelhardt formerly advised the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) about culture in the Asia-Pacific region. The other was National University of Singapore Associate Professor Dr. Johannes Widodo.
The Macau Slow Food Awards and Gala Dinner is an event that IFT puts on every year, in cooperation with the Macau Slow Food Association. The awards are presented to businesses that adhere to the tenets of the Slow Food movement: that food should be good, clean and fair. The IFT contribution is made by Tourism Event Management undergraduates in Year 2 of their degree programme.
The 2016 event was held in November at the IFT Educational Restaurant. It made a surplus of MOP57,000, which was given to the charity Anihelp for its work to protect animals.
Some Year 3 IFT students taking the evening programme leading to a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Event Management banded together to hold a charity event in the IFT Amphitheatre called “Dreams in Wonderland”, which took place in November 2016. Their purpose was to increase public awareness of mental impairments and people that suffer from them.
The evening event featured performances by Macao artists. The students planned the event, found sponsors for it, drew up the programme, and marketed and sold the tickets. The proceeds of over MOP28,000 went to the Macau Association for the Mentally Handicapped.
Another group of IFT Tourism Event Management undergraduates in Year 3 of their degree programme organised a charity event called “YOUN1QUE”, which took place also in November 2016. Their aim was to make the people of Macao more aware of Down syndrome and foster a culture of inclusivity in the city.
The programme included a colouring competition, a Halloween make-up workshop and a Halloween carnival. The event raised MOP40,319, which was given to the Macau Down Syndrome Association.
A team comprising Year 3 IFT students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Tourism Event Management put on in April 2017 the “We Run Up” series of activities. The activities were meant to emphasise the importance of taking regular exercise and to discourage a sedentary existence. Games were among the activities arranged. The net proceeds of MOP19,500 went to the Against Child Abuse (Macau) Association.
