IFT and Jiangmen Polytechnic have signed a cooperation agreement aiming to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in tourism education. Both sides hope it can contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Jiangmen Polytechnic is located in Jiangmen prefecture, in Mainland China’s Guangdong Province, next door to Macao.
IFT President Dr. Fanny Vong and Dr. Liu Zhi Yong, President of Jiangmen Polytechnic, signed the agreement on behalf, respectively, of the 2 institutions. The ceremony was held at IFT on 2 May.
Under the agreement, the 2 parties will establish a long-term cooperation mechanism to promote professional and technical training in the fields of tourism and hospitality.
Dr. Vong says IFT and Jiangmen Polytechnic had been cooperating prior to the formal agreement. “Jiangmen Polytechnic has sent lecturers and students to IFT for exchange programmes,” she explains. “We both hope significantly to strengthen cooperation through this agreement.”
Dr. Vong says that, while comprehensive in nature, the agreement has “a particular focus on professional training in tourism”.
Specific ties envisioned under the deal include introducing the Macao Occupational Skills Recognition System (MORS) to Jiangmen.
MORS is the outcome of the joint efforts of the Macao tourism industry and IFT to establish a training scheme leading to certification for certain positions in the hotel and tourism industries. There are currently 17 occupations covered by the MORS certification scheme.
Other specific areas covered by the agreement between the 2 educational institutions include: promoting exchanges and training of scholars and students; conducting joint research on tourism in the Greater Bay Area; and co-organising joint courses.
“IFT offers many advantages when it comes to tourism education, including having a number of courses leading to certifications recognised internationally,” Jiangmen Polytechnic’s Dr. Liu says. “Through this cooperation, IFT can introduce to Mainland China new international standards regarding professional tourism education.” This would be beneficial for the development of qualified human resources for the Greater Bay Area, he adds.
Dr. Liu further outlines that tourism education is of paramount importance to the development of the Greater Bay Area, as tourism has been envisioned as a key industry for the region’s future.
Supporting the Greater Bay Area project
The National Development and Reform Commission, the Guangdong Provincial Government, the Hong Kong SAR Government, and the Macao SAR Government signed in July 2017 the “Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area”. The agreement calls – among other things – for the development of the Greater Bay Area as a prominent centre of international education, and calls for developing Macao as a base for tourism education and training.
IFT fully supports the policies of the Macao SAR Government in this regard. The Institute has cooperated for many years with educational institutions in several places in Guangdong Province, namely in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Nansha.
IFT and the Guangzhou Vocational School of Tourism and Business have been collaborating since 2014 on promoting academic exchanges.
IFT and the Zhuhai No.1 Vocational School in Guangdong have worked together since 2009 to introduce MORS to Zhuhai. More than 2,600 students have benefitted from MORS training.
In addition, IFT and the Ling Dong Vocational and Technical School are currently working to establish MORS in Nansha.
“In the future, we hope to forge cooperation agreements with more institutions in the Greater Bay Area,” says IFT President Dr. Vong.
“The type of cooperation might vary,” she adds. “For instance, the cooperation with Jiangmen Polytechnic will focus on professional training in tourism, but the focus with other institutions might be on tourism research and bachelor degree programmes.”
