The Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) will increase its student intake by 13 percent in the 2023/2024 Academic Year, which will see around 650 places available across its bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, IFTM President Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan told reporters yesterday.
Vong made the remarks during IFTM’s Open Day, which was held at the Forward Building of its Taipa campus.
Given Macau’s improving tourism situation, The Macau Post Daily asked if she expects more students to be interested in taking tourism and hospitality-related courses, to which she replied: “We are very optimistic about this”.
Vong underlined that this is not only because tourism is being revived in Macau and globally and people have been travelling since borders started reopening, but also with IFTM’s international rankings having gone up.
The higher education institution has recently been ranked in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 as 10th in the world and 1st in Asia.
This could bring more “knowledge or awareness about our institution, so we are optimistic about the amount of interest building up to come to our programmes”, Vong said.
Vong also remarked that IFTM expects to see “a lot of students coming back” in its exchange programmes. However, in terms of international students coming to take IFTM’s full programmes, Vong said she thought that IFTM needs to “put in a lot more effort” in promotion overseas.
“We will be joining government delegations to go abroad. For example, at the end of this month, we will be going to Malaysia to promote ourselves. We will also be working with different partners in the South Asia Pacific to bring in more international students”, Vong said.
Meanwhile, with an increasing importance of technology and its applications in different fields, including tourism, Vong remarked that future professionals in the industry have to be “knowledgeable to be conversant in technology”, adding that IFTM’s future programme offerings will have “a lot of emphasis on combining traditional tourism knowledge with technology”.
Vong noted that IFTM launched the Smart Technologies in Hospitality and Tourism Master’s degree programme last year, while it is making preparations to launch a Master’s degree programme in Digital Marketing and Analytics slated to be launched this coming academic year.
Vong pointed out that IFTM will be moving towards the direction of Tourism+ in the future, particularly in Tourism+Technology, though it will not only be limited to technology.
IFTM President Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan speaks with reporters during the IFTM Open Day yesterday, which was held on its Taipa campus. Photo: Rui Pastorin
