The event attracted students not only from Macao but also from the rest of the Greater Bay Area and beyond. It highlighted the Institute’s emphasis on combining theory and practice, and featured presentations on campus life and demonstrations of academic and non-academic activities
This year’s edition of the IFTM Open Day on 7 January drew scores of high-school students from Macao and further afield to the Mong-Há Campus. Many came with their parents. Other members of the public also attended. All of them wanted to find out more about the style of education offered by the Institute.
Among the would-be students at the event was Portugal-born Francisca, and two other classmates from the Portuguese School of Macau. Francisca will finish her secondary education this summer, and says she is leaning toward studying Culinary Arts Management at IFTM.
With the COVID-19 pandemic long gone, Macao “might be a better place to start my career” than other locations, she said.
IFTM has arrangements around the world with higher education providers, giving Institute students opportunities to broaden their horizons by going on exchanges or taking part in dual degree programmes. IFTM students can also go abroad either for internships, summer programmes, or to attend international conferences.
Escola Estrela do Mar (澳門海星中學) principal, Mr. Kolbe Vong Pio, said these overseas ties make IFTM “an excellent option” for students, whether they are considering a future career at home or abroad. “For those interested in the tourism industry, there’s no better place” to study in Macao than IFTM, he added, on the sidelines of the Open Day.
The quality of the education provided by the Institute is praised by heads of other local schools. The Institute has in place a recommendation system that enables high school principals directly to refer to IFTM individual students judged to have outstanding academic performance.
Macao Sam Yuk Middle School (澳門三育中學) principal, Mr. Simon Xu Youde, attended IFTM’s Open Day as a guest. He said the Taipa school has a close relationship with IFTM. The Institute provides instructors to teach some of the classes on the school’s vocational course in tourism.
“Many of those students end up coming to IFTM to further their studies, especially those from our English-language section”, he said, emphasising that English is the medium of instruction for a number of programmes at the Institute.
Even though Chinese is the language used for teaching at Escola Estrela do Mar, principal Mr. Vong said IFTM’s predominantly English-language environment was also seen by his school’s students as an attractive feature.
“Our students probably don’t have a lot of chances to practise English, so coming to IFTM can actually drive them to enhance their English-language communication skills,” he said.
Regional appeal
The IFTM Open Day annually attracts prospective students not only from Macao, but also from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a whole, as well as from further afield.
Fujian-born Mr. Terry Lai accompanied his son to the Open Day. During a demonstration of coffee brewing, he praised IFTM for producing graduates “successful in finding good jobs”.
The most recent career placement survey by IFTM focused on the employment path of those graduating in academic year 2022/2023 and was conducted within months of them completing their studies. It indicated 87.3 percent of bachelor’s degree graduate respondents had already either obtained employment or were pursuing postgraduate studies.
The IFTM Open Day aims to demonstrate how the combination of theory and practice is central to the Institute’s teaching. The latest edition featured presentations on campus life, and demonstrations of academic and non-academic activities on campus.
IFTM staff members were among those helping prospective students and parents find out more about extracurricular activities. A senior representative of the Student Affairs Division that provided support to the Open Day said: “It’s a good way to help them [would-be students] understand how campus life is. It’s not about how many activities, but the quality of activities.”
A distinctive feature of the IFTM Open Day is that Institute students taking bachelor’s degrees in, respectively, Tourism Event Management, Culinary Arts Management, and Hotel Management – as well as in other IFTM programmes – help arrange the event. They plan and stage many of the Open Day’s attractions.
In her speech at the Open Day welcoming ceremony, IFTM President Dr. Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan expressed her gratitude to the current students and staff for their “diligent efforts and cooperative spirit in presenting the vibrant side of the Institute to the public”.
Dr. Vong stressed that IFTM is launching next academic year a series of new degree programmes. That includes a new Bachelor of Science degree programme in International Business and Innovative Communication. The Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme is to be rebranded as the Marketing and Brand Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme, featuring a revised curriculum. IFTM will also introduce Chinese-language versions of 2 existing undergraduate programmes, namely in Cultural and Heritage Management, and Tourism Business Management.
She added that redevelopment work was under way for IFTM’s Silver Jubilee Building and the Accommodation Building at the Taipa Campus – the latter will be used for training in hospitality-related activities. Work on both facilities should be completed by 2025.
