Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) and Jiangmen Polytechnic signed a cooperation agreement at IFT on 2 May. President of IFT, Dr. Fanny Vong and President of Jiangmen Polytechnic, Dr. Liu Zhi Yong presided over the ceremony. Representatives from Jiangmen Tourism Bureau, Guangdong Province are also invited to attend the signing ceremony.
The cooperation agreement has been successfully reached in order to essentially carry out the cooperation of professional technical education and training, as well as related exchanges and cooperation for tourism, hospitality and related areas of both territories, as agreed by the two parties. With the signing of the agreement, it is hoped to assist in the development of the Greater Bay Area, giving full play to the advantages of the higher education institutions in the areas, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in education between the two regions. The implementation of the agreement facilitated talent cultivation in both regions, as to cope with rapid the industry development.
The two parties will establish long-term and continuous cooperation mechanism to promote professional and technical training in tourism and hospitality, in the principle of resources sharing and to enhance development of both parties. More specifically regarding the collaboration includes:
Introduce Macao Occupational Skills Recognition System (MORS) to Jiangmen;
Promote exchanges and training between faculties and students;
Promote joint studies and researches on the topic of tourism development of the Greater Bay Area;
Promote joint courses between the institutes.
Established in 1995, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) offers the most extensive selection of tourism and hospitality related bachelor degree programmes in Macao, and about twenty thousand participants attend its vocational and professional training courses annually. IFT collaborates with 104 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 500 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. In addition, IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and twice won the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).