Deputy Director, Mr. Lau Wai Meng, Macao Economic Services (MES)
The entrepreneurship course led by Dr. Fernando Lourenço of the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) are delighted to have Deputy Director, Mr. Lau Wai Meng, the Direcção dos Serviços de Economia – Macao Economic Services (MES) to offer a talk on the role of the Department in stimulating entrepreneurship in Macao. Via this talk, Deputy Director Lau offers students important information regarding the Young Entrepreneurs Aid Scheme, SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, Business Incubator Centre for Young People, and many other services and policies aiming to help young entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial career.
The Institute for Tourism Studies has integrated entrepreneurship course since 2015 in its entire bachelor degree programmes, namely Culinary Arts Management, Heritage Management, Hotel Management, Tourism Business Management, Tourism Event Management and Tourism Retail and Marketing Management. IFT is aware that entrepreneurs are the driving force for innovation and social change. IFT hopes to cultivate graduates who are equipped with entrepreneurial attitudes to support local industries, to establish enterprises to contribute to the development of the economy, as well as to generate employment opportunities for the labour market.
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 101 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 first institution to receive a successful International Quality Review (IQR) from the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). IFT has been ranked by the “QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017” as the 2nd best higher education institution in Asia in the field of hospitality and leisure management and the 18th best higher education institution in this field in the world. In addition, 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).
