IFT 2019/20 Student Orientation Ceremony was held on 22 August with the presence of IFT faculty members and degree students (including exchange students).
President of IFT, Dr. Fanny Vong presented her warmest welcome to the new comers during the ceremony. Dr. Vong encouraged the 487 new students to devote themselves in learning, be responsible for their own studies, be confident in their own potential, make full use of the resources provided by the Institute, and to embrace diversity of knowledge to lay a solid foundation for life.
President Vong also mentioned the year of 2019 is indeed another milestone for IFT. With the effectiveness of Macao Higher Education Regime from August 2018, IFT started immediately the last step of work to obtain the official approval for its postgraduate programmes (diploma, master’s degree and PhD degree). The related programmes opens for application from the first half of 2019 and the student recruitment is quite promising. In addition, IFT’s new charter was approved by the Executive Council of Macao SAR Government in August 2019. This foresees more rooms for IFT’s development as the new chapter will allow the Institute to enlarge its organisational structure and offer higher level degree programmes.
She also mentioned higher education is not just an opportunity to acquire knowledge; more importantly, students are to learn to think independently, to tell right from wrong based on the facts and make their own decisions. We owe the steady social and economic development in Macao to the relentless efforts by our predecessors and the strong support from our country. Therefore, students should remember this and contribute to the future development of Macao and our country with what they will gain through hard work at IFT.
Established in 1995, IFT has made significant progress and achievements in various areas, increasing student intake, enhancing quality and variety of programmes and courses, as well as pursuing excellence in teaching and research over the years. Now IFT has grown as an internationally recognised institution. IFT collaborates with 106 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 618 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 for three consecutive years from 2017. This year it ranks the 1st place in Macao, 5th in Asia and 33rd worldwide. In June 2019, IFT also get a high ranking in Shanghai Ranking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects in Hospitality and Tourism Management. It is the 1st in Macao, 5th in Asia and 30th globally.
In order to cope with whole-person development education model, IFT adopts a balanced curriculum of both theories and practices. It emphasises on student quality nurturing and always supports students to organise real hands on projects, among which some are charitable events. Through learning by action, students not only can help the needy and the community, but also put theories into practices. The experience of learning to work with people from different background and cultures sharpens their interpersonal skills. Besides, IFT encourages students to participate in extra-curricular activities and various overseas internship and exchange programmes, so that their 4-year university life could further flourish. It is hoped that students can develop vital professional abilities, including teamwork spirit, organisational skill, time management skill, communication skill, as well as positive attitude that can help them to overcome challenges and develop them into knowledgeable, competent and hirable elites.
IFT creates a multi-cultural learning and teaching environment for the students, with faculty members from 18 countries and regions around the world. For this academic year, international and exchange freshmen are from Austria, Mainland China, Chinese Taiwan, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, India, Jordan, Myanmar, Portugal, Republic of the Congo, Republic of Korea, Tanzania, Thailand, USA and Vietnam.
Being one of the public tertiary institutions in Macao, IFT will continue to cultivate tourism professionals and offer more dynamic courses to cope with the tourism development of Macao.
IFT also held the national flag raising ceremony on campus to strengthen the sense of national identity and foster the love for our motherland and Macao on Student Orientation Day. About 400 participants attended the ceremony.
