Anchors at the Bay, Oversees the World
IFT

To fully implement the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area, IFT, under the guidance of Secretary Office for Social Affairs and Culture, acts as a coordinating unit to the “Working Team to Develop Macao into a Tourism Education and Training Base for the Greater Bay Area” with 3 government departments and 9 higher education institutes, which include: Macao Government Tourism Office, Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, Tertiary Education Services Office, University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, City University of Macau, University of Saint Joseph, Academy of Public Security Forces, Macau Institute of Management, Kiang Wu Nursing College, and Macau Millennium College.

The working team targets to achieve 5 goals: to research and promote coordinated development of tourism, to utilise tourism education resources, to improve knowledge on the Greater Bay Area and the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, to increase regional destination competitiveness and to construct communication mechanisms.

International Forum on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

“China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Long-term Implications for Global Travel and Tourism” international forum, coorganised by IFT Tourism Research Centre (ITRC) and the College of Tourism and Service Management of Nankai University, was successfully held on 20 April 2018. More than 150 participants attended this Forum. The forum attracted international experts, scholars and researchers to share their insights on the Belt and Road initiative, and its relationships with global tourism development.

Centre of Professional Training in the Bay Area

IFT is dedicated in becoming a professional tourism training hub in the Greater Bay Area. Starting from academic year 2017/18, IFT has offered specific training programme and courses with the goal of nurturing new tourism talents for Macao and the Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area Collaborative Tourism Research Forum

IFT

Institute for Tourism Studies’ Tourism Research Centre (ITRC), the School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University (SYS), and the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPolyU) jointly organised “The Greater Bay Area Collaborative Tourism Research Forum” on 8 May 2018. The Forum was one-of-a-kind owing to its pragmatic and interactive nature. It was designed for the purpose of defining a collaborative research agenda for tourism stakeholders in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The forum provided an opportunity for hospitality and tourism policymakers, industry executives, and researchers in the Greater Bay Area to discuss, identify and prioritise future joint researches on tourism in the Greater Bay Area.

The forum attracted 110 participants, including representatives from HKPolyU, SYS, and IFT, as well as other higher educational institutes in the GBA. Other participants included community members from across the GBA, including policy-makers, government officials, industry executives, and members of various community interest groups, think-tanks and private associations.

Strengthen International Connection

Globalisation is an unstoppable trend in the world and IFT sets internationalisation an important principle in different areas, ranging from curriculum development to research.

IFT is a centre for talents, experts and learners to gather and share insights and exchange understanding in their areas of interest. The Institute provides undergraduates a learning environment with an international outlook that enhances career prospects upon graduation and increases the quality and relevance of researches.

The knowledge and experience of our multicultural body of academic staff help broaden students’ horizons. IFT has access to a large international network, linking it with 106 universities and tourism bodies in 32 different countries and regions around the world. The Institute welcomes each year numerous foreign students on short-term exchanges and foreign students who undertake the entirety of academic programmes, giving the campuses an international atmosphere.

We encourage students to do internships abroad, and take part in exchange programmes, attend academic conferences, go on field trips and take cultural immersion programmes abroad. Scholarships are offered as recognition for their hard work.

Pillar of Global Tourism Education

IFT

The Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training organised a training programme titled “Capacity Building for Destination Marketing & Tourism Development”, which was spilt into 2 eight-day sessions from 29 November to 6 December 2017 and 24 to 31 May 2018.

In the first section, 26 representatives from Mainland China, Fiji, Macao SAR, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Vanuatu participated in the programme. Lectures, case studies, experience sharing, presentations and visits were included in the training programme. Besides the lectures delivered by IFT instructors, IFT also invited Mr. Andrew Jones, Guardian of Sanctuary Resorts, Immediate Past Chairman (2017) of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to share his experiences with regard to sustainable tourism from an industry’s perspective. In addition, Ms. Celia Lao, CEO of Hong Kong and Macau, AirAsia and a representative of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute shared their experience in aviation, event and the marketing industry. The participants also visited world heritage sites of the Historic Centre of Macao and a few large scale resort-hotels in order to understand the planning and management of tourism facilities in Macao.

In the May 2018 section, a group of 19 representatives from “One Belt, One Road” countries, namely Mainland China, Myanmar, Pakistan, as well as Macao SAR and UNWTO gathered to attend lectures delivered by IFT professors and scholars.

IFT and the Training and Education Department of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of promoting sustainable tourism development through enhancing human capital and fostering collaborations in tourism education and training between Macao and Myanmar in March 2018. Ten officials from the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar attended training at IFT.

An Exchange Platform of Portuguese Speaking Countries

Increasing cooperation with the Portuguese-speaking countries is a mission of IFT. This is in line with the efforts Macao SAR Government puts in to promote the city as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

Together with Territur - Tourism, Culture and Space, from the Centro de Estudos Geográficos (CEG) of Lisbon University, IFT coorganised the public seminar “Ethics and Tourism Planning: Sharing experiences from Macao and Portugal” with IFT on 24 November 2017. The seminar focused on challenges of the rapid tourism growth and confirmed the need to develop more responsible and sustainable practices in the sector.

Also, in academic year 2017/18, IFT held workshops for officials from tourism-related bodies in the Portuguese-speaking countries from March to July 2018. This is the third consecutive year IFT held the workshop. These Lusophone countries include Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe.

IFT
5
degrees
Most of the IFT programmes leading to bachelor’s degrees are recognised by the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in Portugal, meaning the degrees awarded are accepted all over the European Union. This makes it easier for IFT graduates to pursue postgraduate studies in Europe or obtain employment there.
18
nationalities
Being one of the world-leading tourism education instititutes, our faculty includes academics from all around the world work side-by-side with their highly-qualified colleagues from Macao.

World’s Leading Teaching

IFT collaborates with some of the leading tourism schools around the globe to put together short courses for executives in the hospitality industry. These IFT Executive Development Programme courses cover the latest trends in hospitality management.

In academic year 2017/18, IFT offered 3 courses for professions and managers in the hospitality industry. From April to October 2018, IFT invited Mr. Olivier Verschelde, the Senior Consultant in Lausanne Hospitality Consulting, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne; Dr. Michael Oshins from Cornell University; and Dr. Bill Carroll, Cornell University to hold short courses covering topics from sustainability in F&B industry to leadership training and demand management in maximising hotel revenue.

Explore and Grow More

IFT strives to broaden students’ horizon and increase knowledge in their scopes of study, the community and the world. With fieldtrips and the student exchange programme led by academy staff, students received fruitful experiences and grow holistically.

From 15 to 19 October 2017, Prof. John Ap and Dr. Tammy Ku led 20 Tourism Management third year students who studied “Travel Services Management”, and “Development and Management of Attractions” to gain first-hand experience in theme park management and operations and tourism services in Malaysia.

As one of the regional transportation hubs, the development of transportation management is crucial to Macao. On 10 November 2017, Dr. Tammy Ku led 27 Tourism second year students who took the course “Passenger Transport Management” to Hong Kong Aviation Ground Services Limited at Hong Kong International Airport to study the operation and management of world class airport hub.

Heritage Tourism development is one of the main focuses in Macao and Dr. Sharif Shams Imon took 20 Heritage Management fourth year students in the “Seminar on Heritage Management” course to an 8-day study trip to Sri Lanka during 29 January to 5 February 2018.

Dr. Choi Suh Hee led 20 Tourism Business Management fourth year Tourism students in the “Special Interest Tourism” course to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a fieldtrip from 9 to 13 November 2017, and another 25 students who studied the same course to a 6-day study trip to Da Nang, Vietnam during 30 April to 5 May 2018.

The 44th WorldSkills Competition

The 44th WorldSkills Competition took place at Abu Dhabi on 15 to 18 October 2017. This competition is held every 2 years in different parts of the world for the purposes of raising the profile and recognition of skilled young people and to show how important skills are in achieving economic growth.

IFT was commissioned by the Macao SAR Government Labour Affairs Bureau to be one of the training units to compete in the 44th WorldSkills Competition at Abu Dhabi in 3 competition categories which are Cooking; Patisseries/Confectionery and Restaurant Service. The IFT training team was formed by our culinary faculty members including Dr. Mark Gibson who was in charge of the Cooking Category assisted by Dr. Christy Ng; Ms. Marieta Wong and Mr. Jeffrey Lao, the Patisseries/Confectionery Category and Mr. Miguel Oliveira, the Restaurant Service Category.

After two rounds of candidate screening competition including participants from IFT and other institutions and organisations, 4 IFT students were selected to represent Macao to compete in the 44th WorldSkills Competition at Abu Dhabi on 15 to 18 October 2017. They were Bowie, Cheong Pou I (Cooking Category); Renee, Ng Iok Shan (Patisseries/Confectionery Category); Noel, Ho Wei (Restaurant Service Category) and Eva, Un I Wa who participated in the Floristry Category trained by the Macau Association of Macau Floral Culture. They competed against some 40 countries and regions representatives in Abu Dhabi in each category and came back with a very satisfying result, especially in Restaurant Service Category and Floristry Category, in which they won the Medallions of Excellence. They came back with more experience and skills; they became stronger in mind; more focused at work; more sociable; more flexible and could bear greater stress. The training team members and IFT students had also benefited from interacting with experts from other countries. They exchanged skills, knowledge, cultures, developed friendships and communicated collaboration opportunities.

IFT
IFT
IFT

Partners and Memberships Newly Signed in Academic Year 2017/18:

Jiangmen Polytechnic, People’s Republic of China

Sun Yat-Sen University, People’s Republic of China

FERRANDI Paris, The French School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management, Paris, France

Taylor’s University, Malaysia

Training and Education Department of the Directorate of Hotels and Tourism,
Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Republic of the Union of Myanmar

University of Évora, Portugal

Research Collaboration:

Sun Yat-Sen University
People’s Republic of China

School of Hotel and Tourism Management,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong SAR

IFT partners in international qualification courses

  • American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AH&LEI)
  • Asia Society of Visual Merchandisers (ASVM)
  • Burgundy Wine School
  • Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
  • City and Guilds
  • Educational Testing Service (ETS)
  • Ferrandi Paris - School of Culinary Arts
  • International Air Transport Association (IATA)
  • International Bartenders Association (IBA)
  • International Personal Trainers and Fitness Academy (IPTFA)
  • ITEC
  • Le Cordon Bleu
  • Pearson LCCI
  • PIVERDIE FRANCE
  • Sake Sommelier Association
  • Servsafe®
  • Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)
  • Sherry Academy
  • Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET)
  • Wines of Portugal

Summar School

IFT
IFT

During the summer break, many IFT undergraduates take short-term programmes outside Macao which broaden their horizons and deepen their knowledge about their areas of interest. Some of these programmes are arranged jointly by IFT and its partners abroad. The cross-border exchange programmes that IFT students took part during academic year 2017/18 includes:

  • Tianjin Cultural Exchange Programme for Macao University Students 2018
    Tianjin, Mainland China 7 - 21 June 2018
  • Yunan University of Finance and Economics “2018 Exchange Scheme of Faculty and Students among Universities in Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao” – Colourful Clouds Culture Exploration: Cultural Experience in Yunnan
    Yunnan, Mainland China 8 - 14 June 2018
  • Shenzhen University “2018 Exchange Scheme of Faculty and Students among Universities in Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao” – Summer Cultural Camp on Chinese Traditional Art
    Shenzhen, Mainland China 9 - 15 June 2018
  • Nanjing University “2018 Exchange Scheme of Faculty and Students among Universities in Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao” – 2018 Macao and Jiangsu University Students Cultural Exchange Programme
    Jiangsu, Mainland China 19 - 25 June 2018
  • Destination and Experience Marketing
    Breda, the Netherlands 1 - 12 July 2018
  • Tourism, Portuguese Language and Culture
    Évora, Portugal 1 - 14 July 2018
  • Food, Wine & Culture Summer School
    Setúbal, Portugal 1 - 15 July 2018
  • University of Economics, The University of Danang International Summer School 2018
    Danang, Vietnam 2 - 11 July 2018
  • Summer Camp on Maritime Silk Road 2018 organized by Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Alliance and hosted by Jinan University
    Guangzhou, Mainland China & Batam, Indonesia 22 - 29 July 2018
  • Sun Yat-Sen University “2018 Exchange Scheme of Faculty and Students among Universities in Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao” – Lingnan Cultural Summer Camp
    Guangdong & Hunan, Mainland China 17 - 24 August 2018