Education IFT to offer its first Master’s program

Fanny Vong speaks during the event

The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) 2018/2019 Degree Program Student Orientation Ceremony was held last week.

President of IFT, Fanny Vong, welcomed 512 new students. “Career opportunities in tourism and hospitality continue to expand. The tourism industry is growing worldwide and that translates into rewarding careers, particularly in Asia,” Vong said in her speech. “In China, the soon-to-be unveiled development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will play a pivotal role in unlocking even greater tourism growth.”

In addition, IFT held its first national flag raising ceremony on campus “to strengthen the sense of national identity and foster the love for the motherland.” More than 400 participants attended the ceremony, which was not mandatory.

On the sidelines of the ceremony, Vong said that IFT will launch its first master’s degree in 2019.

“All the designs for the master’s degree in hospitality management are ready, and we will try to deliver the design to the relevant department as soon as possible. In 2019, we will launch our first master’s degree,” said Vong. “The first master’s degree will be a hospitality management degree. There is a huge demand for hospitality management. Macau’s hotel industry is developing very well and there are many high-class management personnel. I believe that many people from the industry and from the society will be interested in this degree.”

Besides planning to launch the master’s degree in hospitality management, IFT also plans to launch a master’s degree in cuisine.

“Macau is a gastronomy city; besides [good food], Macau also needs to do research about cuisine,” said Vong.

Previously, IFT had offered cuisine courses. According to Vong, these courses have been popular.

“This year, students who have been admitted to the courses have performed very well in both their graduate exams and college entrance exams. I am really confident in those students who are majoring in cuisine,” said Vong.

The IFT president said that these students are in high demand by local companies.

Regarding the master’s degree in cuisine, Vong said that each class plans to accept 25 to 30 students.

The cuisine master’s degree will not focus on cooking skills but cooking related theories.

“The master’s degree in cuisine does not talk about the practice, but it is more about the theory,” said Vong.

In addition, the IFT president said that the institute is currently looking for a place near the old campus of the University of Macau to open a cuisine center.

Conman spends millions on gambling hubs

A former professional poker player will face a 12 year prison sentence over his participation in a fraud of AUD76 million, in which millions were spent on gambling junkets in Las Vegas and Macau.

The court described the offences of convicted conman Bill Jordanou as “prolonged fraud of breath-taking proportions.”

The 60-year-old will serve nine years before he is eligible for parole.

His co-accused, Robert Zaia, 54, was also sentenced after pleading guilty to the massive scam, which involved the use of fraudulent documents to obtain loans on behalf of clients, usually for property developments.

A report issued by the Sydney Morning Herald stated that the funds were siphoned from clients’ accounts without their consent and transferred between accounts to avoid suspicion.

Police have been unable to trace most of the money that had been stolen, yet they noted that millions were spent on jewelry, luxury cars and on gambling junkets in the gambling hubs Las Vegas and Macau, among others.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank approved over AUD58 million in fraudulent loans. Although they were aware of the scam in 2007, the case was only referred to the police in 2011.