From 1 to 9 July, Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Macao and Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K. jointly organised Summer International Exchange Programme 2013 in Yorkshire. U.K. Themed “Developing Cultural Tourism” this year, the Programme attracted 25 students from China (including Macao and Hong Kong), Japan and the United Kingdom to participate. In the nine-day programme, they acquired the knowledge about the theme through interacting and exchanging ideas with experts, industry professionals and officials, as well as conducting seminars, field trips and presentations. In the last day of the programme, the participants concluded what they had learnt in a sharing session and received certificates from the organiser.

Since 1998, IFT has been organising the Summer Programme annually with different themes, and brought students from all over the world to Macao and IFT for cultural exchange. From 2009, IFT has been collaborating with an overseas partner, Asia-Pacific Education and Training Institutes in Tourism (APETIT), to conduct the Programme out of Macao for widening local students’ horizon. This programme not only welcomes university students from Macao but also other countries and regions to join. Participants can have the unique opportunity to experience other cultures and get along with people from different cultural background that It is certainly beneficial for them to develop career in the tourism industry in the future.

This is the fifth year that IFT organised the programme in cooperation with institutions outside Macao. Through conducting collaborations with institutions in other countries and regions alike, IFT strives to promote the globalised tourism education development of Macao.