IFT gastronomy center to be completed by 2023

Antonio Chu, head of IFT’s Technical and Academic Support Division

The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) expects construction of the gastronomy center at its Taipa campus to be completed within four to five years.

The school intends to launch its first master’s degree program in the next two years, with a strong focus on hotel management, IFT president Fanny Vong told the press on the sidelines of the institute’s Open Day yesterday.

The Open Day featured a series of activities, each led by different departments, to address visiting students’ enquiries.

IFT also plans to introduce a new culinary management course, in response to increased demand.

The school already offers several popular culinary-related courses, of which there were more than 170 in 2016/2017. 

Vong said that once the school has enough resources, it will expand the scope of its courses to focus more on research and training in various areas of local gastronomy.

Antonio Chu, head of the Technical and Academic Support Division, told the Times that it aims to recruit some 420 new students for the 2018/2019 intake.

“The maximum quota is 457 students. Eighty percent of this will be our target to local students. Of course, this includes students in both daytime programs and evening programs,” Chu explained.

The division head also added that IFT aims to admit 90 students from the mainland and accept more students from Hong Kong and Asian countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, noting that the institute has been conducting promotional activities across the region.

Returning to the topic of IFT’s culinary degree – which will cater to around 20 students per class due to limited equipment – Chu continued, “This [was] a competitive program last year and now the application period has started we [have] noticed that this program remains attractive to local students.” 

Although Chu recognized a slight decrease in the number of graduating high school students, he expressed hopes that IFT could reach its admission targets for the upcoming intake.