Demand for entry to evening bachelor degree programmes at IFT continues to be strong, and is supported by the range of programmes available, says IFT Assistant Professor Dr. Cindia Lam, Coordinator for Evening Degree Programmes.
The number of applications for enrolment in any one of the 4-year evening bachelor degree programmes offered by the Institute via evening classes has been increasing steadily throughout the years, with programmes largely oversubscribed year after year, says Dr. Lam.
IFT currently offers 3 bachelor degree programmes via evening classes. These are: Tourism Event Management, Hotel Management, and Tourism Retail and Marketing Management. The first 2 programmes were launched in evening-class format in academic year 2010/11. Tourism Retail and Marketing Management has been offered since academic year 2016/17.
Dr. Lam says the evening bachelor degree programmes complement, and are an alternative to, IFT’s existing daytime class arrangements. The aim is to further help the Institute nurture new talents for the city’s tourism and hospitality industries. “Evening programmes target 2 groups of people: employed people – who might have or not have a bachelor degree – that would like to further their studies in order to meet their career needs; and fresh high-school graduates who need to work for financial or personal reasons and cannot take up an IFT daytime bachelor degree programme.”
Each year, IFT accepts 30 to 40 new students per evening bachelor degree programme. Besides the normal application procedures, the Institute offers a referral scheme, allowing companies in Macao to recommend employees for enrolment in IFT programmes without the employees needing to take part in written IFT entrance examinations.
“Companies are willing to adjust the working schedule of such employees when they become evening programme students at IFT, so that they can better balance their work life and study,” Dr. Lam says.
Aside from some structural differences, standards are the same for daytime and evening programmes at IFT, states Dr. Lam. Students on evening bachelor degree programmes are required to attend a curricular internship, in the manner of their counterparts on daytime programmes. But evening students are given greater flexibility regarding completion of their internship. Evening programme undergraduates who are already working can apply to have their work time counted for internship purposes, provided their job relates to the area of specialisation covered by their bachelor degree programme.
Another difference between an IFT programme delivered in the daytime versus the evening is the medium of teaching: lectures for daytime programmes are in English; those for evening programmes are in Chinese. In addition, the evening degree programmes are delivered in modules.
‘Experiential learning’
Classes in the IFT evening bachelor degree programmes make wide use of “experiential learning”, i.e., the process of learning through experience. Students are invited to experience real-life situations and confront real challenges by undertaking hands-on projects, thereby applying the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom while developing pan-curricular skills via collaborating in groups.
Dr. Lam mentions a recent example: in February, Year 2 students on the IFT Hotel Management evening programme held a charity gala dinner to welcome the Year of the Pig, with the proceeds donated to a local charity. “This was a valuable opportunity for students to really put their academic knowledge into practice,” Dr. Lam says.
The Institute also regularly invites industry executives to meet evening bachelor degree programme students, and deliver talks or lead seminars. “They share up-to-date information related to the scope of our programmes that might not be included in our curriculum, thus helping to broaden the students’ horizons,” Dr. Lam says.
The scholar adds that feedback on the evening bachelor degree programmes has been positive. “Alumni often tell us that their programme was useful to them even before they graduated,” she explains. “For example, as they take a course on management, they can already apply that knowledge to their work, which alumni say is very motivating.”
Ramos Ao Ieong agrees with Dr. Lam’s comments. He is a Year 1 student in the Tourism Event Management evening programme, and the President of the Evening Student Union.
He says that, as most students enrolled in an IFT evening programme already have work experience, the learning process is interactive, involving interesting exchanges with the lecturers.
“But we still have to comply with strict academic requirements. We would not consider our studies an easy task; but as we all have personal goals behind [wanting to study at IFT], we try our best to balance work, study and personal life,” he says.
