Macau Matters | University internships

Richard Whitfield

For the first time in many years I am teaching an undergraduate university course. Surprisingly, I am enjoying this teaching – I am not known for my patience, which is essential in undergraduate teaching. It is also the first time I have worked with the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) and I have found the students to be interested and engaged. And while I have previously taught project management, it is a first for me to teach Project Management for New Hotel Openings.
In my research for the course I was very surprised to learn that project management is not covered in most Hotel Management degrees around the world. Nor is new hotel openings, even though many, many new hotels will open in Asia over the coming 20-plus years, and it can be a very good career path for fresh Hotel Management graduates.
Most Hotel Management degrees include internships, which are a great way for students to learn about the industry that they will work in after graduation, and get practical experience before graduation. Personally, I think that internships should be an integral part of most university undergraduate degrees. It is perverse that the international undergraduate students (from China and elsewhere) who are studying in Macau are not permitted by the local labour laws to do their internships here. This is something that must be changed.
The Macau and central Chinese governments are always promoting local industry diversification, and I along with many others fully agree with this policy. To me, hotel management and especially new hotel openings, is a field of expertise that is fundamental to Macau’s development and is something that is greatly needed throughout the region and so is something that can become an important industry diversification for Macau. Similarly, there is also great need for expanding tertiary education in the region and this can also become a major “export” industry for Macau, like it is in Australia, the USA and Europe.
However, unlike Macau, most places trying to promote international tertiary education permit students to work locally while they are studying. I and many others firmly believe that work experience is an essential part of university learning. It also allows international students to reduce their tuition and local living costs while they are studying. Finally, it is also good for the local community b expanding the local labour pool, and students spend any income they receive locally.
It is totally incorrect to say that international students take away jobs from locals. International students are only here for a limited time, and internships and related industry work are not full-time employment. Moreover, in many cases students take positions that cannot be filled with local labour.
Now we have the very stupid situation where Chinese students studying Hotel Management in Macau are now arranging to do their internships in China (or elsewhere) because they are not permitted to do them in Macau hotels, which we all know suffer from chronic labour shortages.
To diversify its economy, Macau should be doing all that it can to promote international tertiary education and the development of the hotel industry. This goal can be easily achieved by changing local labour laws to permit international students to work in Macau while they are studying, similar to the rules in Australia and elsewhere.