Student counselling is an important function at any level of schooling.  If the foundational years are the basis for shaping values and character, the university years are for consolidating and reinforcing them.  IFT appointed Student Counsellors several years ago.  Besides offering advice and counselling service to students, the Counsellors take initiative to arrange career fairs and seminars, set up industry mentorship programmes and work with the Student Union and other departments to promote the interests of the students.  Many academic staff are also generous with advice and guidance and are happily rewarded by students’ achievements.

We hope this close relationship can be maintained for many years to come.  We understand quite well that we are not only developing well-trained professionals, but also shaping responsible and ethical world citizens.

Fanny Vong, PhD
President

In 2000, IFT became the first educational institution in the world to be accredited by the UNWTO with ‘TedQual Certification’. This certification confirms the international standard and quality achieved by IFT in tourism education.

IFT initially applied for TedQual certification in 2000; immediately upon being accepted by the UNWTO, the rigid evaluation process began. Six major divisions were then assessed, including Society and Industry, The Student, Instruction, The Faculty, Infrastructure and Management. Among these six divisions, 183 aspects were reviewed.

Since IFT’s original TedQual accreditation was granted back in 2000, the UNWTO has sent the UNWTO-THEMIS Executive Director to IFT for annual observations. IFT appreciates valuable opinions from such international experts and has made relevant adjustments in terms of education, programmes and management over the years.

In December 2008, the UNWTO sent its experts from Spain to IFT to again make a comprehensive evaluation. Recently, the certifications granted to IFT’s Bachelor Degree Programmes were renewed for four more years. IFT’s TedQual certification thereby continues through to December 2012.

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The 2008 Awards Ceremony of Medals and Titles of Honour of the Macao SAR Government, People’s Republic of China was held in January. The Chief Executive of Macao SAR, Mr. Edmund Ho Hau Wah, gave honours and awards to 40 individuals and organisations for their personal achievements, notable contributions to Macao SAR and their dedicated public and community service.

IFT was proud and grateful to be awarded the Medal of Merit for Tourism, in recognition of our contributions in advancing local tourism development. Vice President, Ms. Florence Ian, represented IFT in receiving the medal at the award ceremony on 16 January, 2009.

The medal is a great encouragement to IFT in this continuing effort to nurture more professionals for the industry and contribute to the sustainable development of tourism in Macao.

Public Relations

「中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區2008年度勳章、獎章及獎狀頒授典禮」於1月16日舉行。澳門特別行政區行政長官何厚鏵頒授「旅遊功績勳章」予旅遊學院，以表揚學院在推動本地旅遊業發展上所作出的貢獻。

Taking time away from their busy schedules, IFT student counsellors Doris Ip, Shirley Ma and Dino Couto shared their anecdotes and their collective hope to offer even more benefits to our students.  Their modesty and compassionate determination readily come forth.

Doris/
Shirley:

Tom Wilhelm
Chief Editor

IFT’s Dr. Edmund Sheng recently had four papers published (in press) in leading international journals listed on the Social Sciences Citation Index:

1. Casino Booms and Local Politics: The City of Macao. Cities (Elsevier).
2. A General Equilibrium Approach to Tourism and Welfare: The Case of Macao. Habitat International (Elsevier).
3. Taxing Tourism: Enhancing or Reducing Welfare? Journal of Sustainable Tourism (Taylors and Francis).
4. Foreign Investment in Tourism: A Small Tourism Economy Perspective. Tourism Geographies (Taylors and Francis).

These four papers are based on Dr. Sheng’s own research into tourism politics and the economy in the urban context. They each effectively contribute to the existing body of theoretical knowledge, while developments of new tourism models are also presented.

Tamami Ogata

旅遊學院副教授盛力博士於社會科學引文索引中收錄的主要國際學術刊物上發表四篇研究論文。

學院為本澳旅遊零售業人士舉辦了「優質零售服務」高級管理課程。邀請到零售管理及企業顧問方面的專家馮炳全博士執教，學院同時邀請了3位資深的業者，包括澳門路易威登零售總監、澳門金沙零售(亞洲)大運河購物中心行政總監及Taubman （亞洲）總裁等擔任客席導師。23位來自港澳零售、旅遊、酒店及教育界的中高層管理人員參加了此課程，並從中分享和吸收了講者及其他參加者的寳貴經驗。

As a continuing education sector, PACES constantly endeavors to enhance lifelong learning and encourage participation. In recent years, we have joined in one of the projects offered by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), the Continuous Learning Reward Project. This year, we are planning to join another scheme, Sponsorship for Continuing Education, which is likewise offered by DESJ. This scheme aims at boosting the interest in learning and integrating it into the daily life of all local citizens. We hope that by introducing this scheme, the benefit and the importance of lifelong learning can be further disseminated, and hence, a more positive learning atmosphere can be created. Local residents who attend the sponsored course and fulfill 75% attendance rate can enjoy an 80% tuition fee refund upon completion of the course. The list of the sponsored courses will be announced soon. Please visit our website for updated information.

PACES

多年來專業及持續教育學校致力推動終身學習的理念，除已加入教育暨青年局的｢終生學習獎勵計劃｣外，本年亦將參加該局的｢持續教育資助計劃｣，盼藉此提升市民的學習興趣，讓更多市民成為真正的終身學習者。

Nowadays, travel agencies tend to use the Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS). Among those, the most popular ones are Abacus, Galileo and Amadeus. In light of this, IFT has developed a long- term partnership with these system providers to ensure our students’ accessibility to the software. Seminars and training sessions are organised collaboratively in order to familiarise the participants with all the operations and functions of the systems. On 4 February, over 30 travel agents and airline representatives attended Abacus Macao Seminar 2009 and listened to guest speakers from International Air Transport Association (IATA) and American International Underwriters (AIU) share their views on current trends in the industry.

PACES

隨著科技的發展與進步，旅遊訂位系統與網絡已日臻完善，旅遊學院與主要的網絡供應機構建立長期的夥伴關係，為業界提供系統操作與更新資訊的培訓。

Internet surfing has become a global trend, and many people would prefer to settle things through this convenient channel. In order to meet the applicants’ expectations and create a more user-friendly and accessible service platform, IFT launched the online application system last November. Applicants no longer need to come and submit their forms in-person as the system enables users to apply anytime and anywhere at their convenience. This paperless system is now applicable to our free seminars, such as “The Preparation for Macao Heritage Tour Guiding”, “Macao in Eastern and Western Movies” and “Chinese and Western Food Culture in Macao”, which will be held from March to June. Interested individuals are welcome to submit their applications by using this eco-friendly method.

PACES

PACES is a school dedicated to providing professional and continuing education to tourism professionals, as well as to the general public. We have been offering a wide range of courses in the areas of heritage, tourism, hospitality, food and beverage, events, retail and languages at entry, supervisory and managerial levels. We are highly flexible and hope we can respond to your learning needs adequately to help you cope with the demands of the rapidly changing world. Your valuable comments on our new courses are always dearly welcomed. Should you have any suggestions for us, please go to our webpage, http://www.ift.edu.mo/en/Programmes/prospective_courses.aspx to contact us. We are waiting to hear from you.

PACES

專業及延續教育學校精心設計不同的課程以應業界及公眾所需。若閣下對開設新課程有任何建議，歡迎到本學院網站提出。

Anyone who travels to or lives in Macao should not miss the delicious and unique Macanese cuisine - a blend of Portuguese and Chinese culinary flavours that cannot be found elsewhere in the world. Therefore, a special “Chef for a day” activity was arranged for the new exchange students. With assistance from our chefs and fellow IFT students, they prepared some typical Macanese dishes. A whole-day city tour, which finished with dinner at a local restaurant, completed the week, allowing them to have a snapshot of Macao.

IFT continues to receive exchange students from our overseas partner institutions. For more information, please contact our Technical and Academic Support Division at office@ift.edu.mo.

Registry

22名分別來自內地、丹麥、葡國、南韓及荷蘭的新交換生參加了學院安排之交換生迎新活動。如欲查詢交換生詳情，請與技術暨學術輔助部國際事務辦公室聯絡，電子郵件 office@ift.edu.mo。

The Institute for Tourism Studies’ life experience programme, “IFT Student For A Day” was held on 21 and 28 February in the IFT Amphitheatre. As a major activity aimed towards student recruitment, this annual event attracted over 900 graduating students from 21 local secondary schools.

What makes this life experience programme unique is that the entire event, from planning to operations, is coordinated by IFT students. As in previous years, over 80 students from their first and second year of the Tourism Event Management Programme, together with volunteers from other majors, brought an unforgettable day to all the guests!

While attending this event, our visitors got to know IFT even better through the Institute’s presentation, the campus tour and through the shared experience of participating with our alumni.  On the day of the event, work stations with various themes were set up along the campus tour route, and instead of just showing the basic operations of the tourism and hospitality industry, visitors were invited to try out the different tasks, from napkin folding at the F&B service station to bed making at the housekeeping station and to appetite-seducing cookie baking at our pastry kitchen station.  The overall experience instilled in our guests the notion that learning can actually be fun at IFT!

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exchange students, we had lots of chances to meet other international students, who took care of us. Although the exchange period was not long, it played an important role in our lives.

The International Department at IMC arranged activities and assigned buddies, similar to IFT buddies, to all incoming students. That helped us adapt easily to the entirely new environment. IMC cooperated with Donau University to organise sport activities for students. As Austria is in the middle of Europe, it is easy to go to other countries by trains or planes when there’s spare time. Local students learn Chinese at IMC and they asked us for help whenever they had any problems related to Chinese. It enhanced the interaction between the local students and us.

We thank IFT and IMC from the bottom of our hearts for giving us these unforgettable experiences. We keep whom we met and what we experienced during our exchange period deeply in our hearts.

Yoko Lai Hio Kuan & Terence Poon Chon Meng
Tourism Business Management Year 2 students

It was a really wonderful experience for me to join the exchange programme and further my studies at USC last semester.

When I first arrived there, everything was so fresh and I was so excited to explore the new things around me. The environment of Columbia is so different from here. There aren’t as many high buildings and it looks more like a garden. You can see squirrels running everywhere and humming birds flying from flower to flower. The university is much bigger than IFT and there are several shuttles to take the students around the campus. Two gyms, including an outdoor swimming pool, are located at the university. Besides that, there is a five-floor library called Tomas Cropper library as well as other small libraries inside the teaching building. There are also many clubs that you can join; like Gamecock football club, skydiving club and dancing club. Moreover, organisations, like the Columbia Council for Internationals, organise banquets and trips for international students.

Since it was the first time that I lived so far away from my family I had to do everything: purchase insurance, open a bank account and buy groceries. The only food available there was pizza, burgers, and other high caloric things. Luckily, there was a Japanese restaurant on the campus. Also, it’s very convenient to cook in the dorm. Although sometimes I found it difficult to communicate well with the local students, it really helped me a lot to improve my English and master more vocabulary. The cultural differences were not only reflected in our eating habits, but also in the way we spent our free time. Local students preferred to watch the football games and drink some beer when hanging out.

Festivals are one of the most interesting things in USA. You can see “Superman” and “Obama” walking on the street on Halloween, and all your classmates dress up as different characters. You can taste lots of traditional food and turkey at Thanksgiving. As they say “Christmas is not only a festival for family gatherings, this is also the festival for eating”.

I traveled a lot within the United States. I went to nearby cites like Charleston and Charlotte and also visited New York and Atlanta. The traveling enriched my experience and allowed me to learn more about the culture and the development of the U.S. It also gave me a clear idea about the hospitality industry there.

I strongly encourage you to join the exchange programme and study abroad. If you have the chance, you should grasp it and make your dream come true.

Iris Liu Hanjie
Hotel Management Year 2

劉寒潔在設施完善，且為學生安排大量課餘活動選擇的美國南卡羅萊納大學作交換生，其間寒潔亦到了多個城市遊覽，及參加了多個節興活動，簡直眼界大開。

In 2008, I spent my first semester of year two at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Japan.  APU is located on the top of one of the most beautiful mountains in Beppu city.  From there you can see bright greenery and Onsen steam on every side, with millions of twinkling stars up in the sky.  Plus, you can make friends from 87 countries.  It was a great experience for me to go there on an exchange programme and actually live among those treasures for five months.

The dormitory of APU where I lived is called AP House.  People from different countries are evenly allocated on each floor.  I shared a room with a very nice Japanese roommate who helped me a lot with daily life there.  Thanks to the multicultural environment at APU, I gained confidence in speaking to and getting on well with people from different cultures.  By speaking with them, I improved so much - not only in Japanese, but English and Mandarin as well (something I had never expected).  Moreover, I would never forget having Italian-American-Chinese food in one dinner, learning and teaching languages, arguing about and laughing at cultural differences, and having so much fun!

Cecilia Wong Nap Wu
Tourism Business Management Year 2

黃鈉瑚在美麗的日本逗留了5個月，作為旅遊學院於立命館太平洋大學的交換生。這5個月裡，鈉瑚享受接觸不同國籍的同學及文化的機會，不單添了自信；更增强了語言能加。

IFT has received seven interns from the following partner institutions since December 2008:

1. National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, Chinese Taiwan
2. University of Nevada Las Vegas,Singapore campus
3. Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland
4. Les Roches School of Hotel Management, Switzerland

In their 6 months here, they will receive on and off campus training.

Registry

學院上半年接納了上述院校之7名實習生作為期約6個月之實習。