The Retail Industry Experience Scheme (RIES) is a condensed four-week practicum programme for students who have completed their first year of study in the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) majoring in Tourism Retail and Marketing Management.

RIES aims to provide the opportunity for students to be exposed to the real business world through hands on practice with our industry partners.

RIES is a critical component of our curriculum and is a prerequisite for graduation; It allows the students to build the foundation for future internship opportunities.

A condensed four-week programme: students will work with the industry partner for five or six full days per week, for a duration of four weeks in June and July. This arrangement will allow the mentor to assign ongoing tasks and medium-term assignments to the students. Students will be able to develop a more mature working relationship with their fellow colleagues.

If conditions allowed, students will work in a team and be responsible for a non-critical business project (such as developing a small-scale marketing plan, etc.) during their placement period. Students will be assessed for what solutions they have offered to the industry partner. This arrangement will add value to their services for the industry partner and allow the students to bear more responsibility as in a real job.

In turn, the industry partner provides functional placements to student-trainees in front-line settings, assigns them tasks and agrees to supervise them for the duration of the programme.

It is a programme with an emphasis on orienting the trainees and introducing them to the industry.

Initiate and exposeTourism Retail and Marketing Management freshmen students to the business environment and realities of professional life in the different aspects of the retail industry;

Help new students gain confidence and social skills in interacting with tourists, guests, and customers in a front-line setting

Immerse students into the demands and skill-requirements of success in the retail industry;

Generate and sustain the interest of first-year students in pursuing a career in the retail industry and challenge them to make creative and lasting contributions to its development. 

Because your organization could use extra manpower for servicing guests, visitors, and customers;

Because through RIES, your organization can build a trained pool of potential human resource candidates for future internship/employment in your company, already trained and accustomed to the specific culture and nature of your operations.

Because your organization would like to play its part in the strategic task of training and educating the future human resource of the retail industry in its never-ending quest of enhancing service quality and achieving world-class standards of performance.

The duration of the programme is four weeks. The practicum programme usually commences in June every year.

Student trainees are seconded and must report to the industry partner for four weeks following the full-time schedule of the industry partner.

Trainees should not expect any allowance nor pay from the industry partner.

IFT's internship programme requires students to work with the industry partner for a prolonged period of up to six months. RIES, however, is a four-week condensed programme with an emphasis on orienting the trainees and introducing them to the industry.

At IFT, we believe that it is a critical juncture in the education of freshmen students to get a quick hands-on experience in the industry they are committing themselves to studying for the next three years. This way, they harbor no illusions as to the nature of the industry and the demands required of them and, thus, they are better prepared socially, physically, and psychologically to thrive in it in the future.

At IFT, we also believe that the first year of college students' life is the best time to instill in them the discipline and habits of hard work, build character, and the best chance to mould them into future professionals. 

The difference is in commitment. In a RIES trainee, one finds a young person who has recently commited him/herself to a lifetime career in a dynamic industry. Embedded in this decision is the implicit willingness and determination to work and do so with enthusiasm and spirit. We believe these attributes to be lacking in casual and temp workers.

Trainees can be assigned to perform any task or function so long as they adhere to the objectives of the programme (see Point 2). Trainees major in Tourism Retail and Marketing Management can be assigned to assist in areas such as sales, customer service, product promotion, inventory control, etc.

It is also advisable that teams of trainees be rotated across different functions and roles in the industry partner's organization.

IFT will work with your organization to define the appropriate duties for the students.

In the academic year 2009/2010, around 5 organizations have offered placements to our students (please see the "Acknowledgement"). If you are interested in involving your organization into this worthwhile endeavor, please contact Ms. Mandy Lao, (Tel: 85983-050 or E-mail: mandy@ift.edu.mo) for further information.

To become an Industry Partner, your organization must agree to and sign on the programme conditions described herein as well as the "Guidelines" provided in this website.

You must also indicate the number of trainees your organization is prepared to take in and any other conditions you require.