Main Headline University News

IFTM Event Students Claim Awards in Citywide Contest and Represent Macao in International Contest

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

Two teams of IFTM Tourism Event Management students garnered exceptional results in the 2023 Macao Tertiary Institution Students Conference Challenge organised by the Macao Convention & Exhibition Association (MCEA) on 8 July 2023. Team 1 won the 1st runner-up as well as the Best Presentation Design and will represent the city in an Asian MICE competition to be held in November in Bangkok, Thailand.

Evan Huang from Team 1 also won one of the two Best Presenter awards in recognition of his exceptional presentation skills among all the presenters in the competition. Revolving around the imaginary International Stage Design Development 2025 forum, the team was led in the competition by IFTM Assistant Professor Dr. Ubaldino Couto, and additionally comprises James Zhang, Ryan Pan, and Tina Kwok.

Meanwhile, working on a project themed 1st GBA Medical Tourism Development Conference, another team from IFTM, led by Assistant Professor Dr. Sherry Xiuchang Tan, obtained honour of merit in recognition of their diligent work. The team comprises Rex Kok, Gram Zhang, Cloris Jiang, and Joe Lo.

The two teams were among only 15 finalists in the competition. Each team was mentored by industry professionals to ensure that they acquired the latest trend and understand the truest reality of the industry, elevating the quality of their projects.
The conference ideas presented by the IFTM teams emerged from thorough research and market analysis of both local and national economic objectives, social and political considerations and Macao’s holistic environment. These ideas reflect and are aligned with Macao’s ‘1+4’ diversity strategy and make good use of knowledge learned in the classroom, as well as educational materials based on the latest research findings. Students were also able to consult faculty members for advice as well as mentors allocated to them by the competition organisers.

In November 2023, the IFTM team will compete with youths from all over the region in the Asia MICE Youth Challenge 2023. Incepted in 2015, the competition is organised by the Asian Federation of Exhibition & Convention Association (AFECA), an Asian non-government entity registered in Singapore in 2005.

This year will see the first physical appearance of the competition after its previous two online versions due to travel restrictions. The competition welcomes undergraduate students attending an accredited tertiary education institution within Asia. In the competition, contestants are expected to convince the jury that their represented localities are the best Asian MICE destinations, by proposing and presenting novel ideas and events.

IFTM strives to nurture tomorrow’s leaders and cultivate their talents by enriching their learning experience beyond the classroom. The Tourism Event Management team within the School of Hospitality has been working tirelessly in developing new postgraduate programmes in events, expected to be launched in the academic year 2024/25. In addition, the team is currently in discussions with the local event industry in developing industry-education collaborations and playing an active role in the international academic community. Specialist academics in IFTM publish regularly in international journals in events and serve on the editorial boards of these prestigious publications.