IFT alumna Ms. Mandy Ho Pui Ian took photo during her internship at UNWTO headquarters in Madrid, Spain.
Partnership between Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) and United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) offers IFT alumna Ms. Mandy Ho Pui Ian opportunity for 1-year internship at the international body’s headquarters in Madrid, Spain. The IFT graduate was selected from a group of candidates for a 1-year internship at the headquarters of the UNWTO in Spain. The opportunity was made available in partnership with IFT. Ms. Ho was assigned to UNWTO’s Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific for the internship. She will assist in collecting and producing tourism-related information and in preparing high-level meetings, among other administrative tasks. IFT is providing Ms. Ho with a MOP40,000 scholarship to support her expenses while in the Spanish capital. The unpaid internship – for which only 1 vacancy was available – will last until the end of May 2017. Macao-born Ms. Ho graduated from IFT in 2012 with a Bachelor Degree in Tourism Event Management. She worked in customer services at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Centre for about a year. After that, she joined the 12-month Cultural Representative Programme for Walt Disney World in Florida, in the United States. She also learned of this opportunity via IFT. After returning from the US, Ms. Ho became part of the human resources department of Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, Cotai Central. She resigned from her job there to attend the UNWTO internship in Spain. Ms. Ho advises all IFT alumni to maintain close ties with the Institute after graduating. IFT regularly provides its alumni with useful information, including on new courses, promotional offers and other activities. “It was in one of the IFT emails that I read about the UNWTO internship opportunity.” she says. “The connection between IFT and alumni is really helpful. In the Macao hospitality industry, I really see a lot of people who graduated from IFT. In a small place like Macao, networking is quite important.” Ms. Ho also praises the education she received from the Institute, saying it has been very useful so far in her career. “IFT provides very practical knowledge to students. During the 4 years of the bachelor degree programme, we are not just studying; we have practicum, internship and several hands-on projects,” she says. “We also learn how to work with different people, from different backgrounds. Those skills are really important in the service industry.” IFT has been maintaining a long-term partnership with UNWTO. Earlier in 2015, Macao SAR Government and United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Macao. The objective was to enhance cooperation between the two parties in improving the quality of human capital and increasing the competitiveness of tourism destinations (particularly in the Asia Pacific Region) in order to achieve sustainable tourism development. The Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training, soon to be set up with the involvement of IFT is tasked with the responsibility to organise training and education programmes, and other projects in collaboration with UNWTO, to achieve the objectives set out in the Memorandum. In May this year, Dr. Alexis Tam, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR Government and Mr. Tith Chantha, Secretary of State of Tourism of the Kingdom of Cambodia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to cooperate in promoting sustainable tourism development through enhancing human capital and establishing collaborations in tourism education and training between Macao and Cambodia. After that, a group of 20 Cambodian heritage tour guides and 4 officials from Cambodia tourism body came to IFT to attend a 7-day training programme in June, offered in collaboration with UNWTO, on the topic of capacity building of tour guides for international visitors at Angkor World Heritage site, Cambodia. 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 97 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 7 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. IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and won twice the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).