1

OnCoursethe newsletter of the international college of hotel management Y adelaide, australia Y semester 1, 2012

As the first degree in the world with Swiss Hotel Association (SHA) endorsement, the Bachelor of International Hotel Management gives new definition to ICHM’s ‘Swissness’. ‘It is our flagship and signals a new era of cooperation between our two organisations’, says Dr Christoph Juen, Chief Executive of the SHA. The degree is one of two degrees offered by ICHM from 2012 under a new revamped program.

Restaurateurs at largeEvents > End of Course Ceremony > Course Commencement Ceremony In a good causeScholarshipsSpanish immersionWork rights

‘Our degrees are different to a typical

double degree in that they are within the

one program so can offer in-depth hospitality

management focus.

‘This new academic program takes a century

or more of SHA tradition and prestige to a

whole new level, creating the most up-to-date

academic qualification in its field. It’s the best

of its kind anywhere’, says Gerald Lipman.

The two degrees were subject to a rigorous

process of review that included the

Bologna process in Europe, the SHA’s Ecole

hôtelière de Lausanne and the Australian

accreditation system.

Dr Christoph Juen said that ICHM’s Principal

Dr Ian Whyte is to be congratulated for

steering the degree through the challenging

European system.

‘It made the curriculum as proposed easier

for us to acknowledge and accept and less

likely for the Australian Government to reject.

‘It is now our task to commit to an audit

process as part of quality control built into the

program, whereby in 2014 an Ecole hôtelière

de Lausanne team will examine how the

study program has translated into reality’,

says Dr Juen.

In developing the degrees, Dr Whyte drew

on the expertise of international hoteliers,

including more than 20 graduates in top

positions around the world. Among them,

Caroline Hardman in Dubai, Peter Pysk in

Taiwan, Melissa Pitt-Chalmers in London,

David Picard in Singapore and Charmaine

Turner in Vancouver.

‘As a result of this industry contribution we

are confident we’ll attract more young people

looking to reach the very top of the industry’,

says Gerald Lipman.

Australian students are eligible for the

Australian Government’s Fee-Help scheme.

From this year ICHM students will be working

toward the Bachelor of Business (Hospitality

Management) and the SHA-endorsed

Bachelor of International Hotel Management.

The two degrees, which can be completed in three years, comprise four academic semesters, 1500 hours of industry placement and proficiency in a second language.

ICHM’s Chief Executive Gerald Lipman says

the qualifications are an impressive new

offering in the highly competitive world of

hotel management education and training.

‘Over the past 20 years we have provided

our students with a passport to global jobs

through the SHA diploma and, since 1999,

the ICHM degree.

Swiss degree a world first

Dr Christoph Juen with students Alison McKay (Queensland) and Marc Bigler (Switzerland) Photo: Naomi Jellicoe The Advertiser

The newsletter of the International College of Hotel Management, Semester 1, 2012 Y www.ichm.edu.au2

AdelaideCultural exchanges

ICHM’s Restaurateurs Since it began operating in 1993, ICHM has educated and trained more than 2500 aspiring hotel managers from around 80 countries, contributed more than $150 million to South Australia’s economy and provided in excess of $2.5 million in scholarships. Its graduates are now at work around the globe—the majority in hotels, but others can be found in related fields such as human resources, marketing and sales, the wine industry and in restaurants, many as restaurateurs in their own businesses. A few are profiled here, and others can be found throughout Australia and worldwide.

On a plateHe always knew he would work with food in some capacity, and today Simon Bajada is at the top of his game as a food stylist in Melbourne, arguably Australia’s food capital.

‘Everything I did in those formative years at ICHM has come together to help me do what I do now.’

Simon’s job, essentially, is to prepare food (on occasions with chefs) to be photographed. He is recognised for his ability to cook, prop and style for the shot. Additionally, his recipes have appeared in magazines such as Gourmet Traveller and Good Taste, and have been used on recipe cards for many campaigns.

He counts some of the biggest names in the business among his clients—advertising agencies, food manufacturers, publishers and television production companies. He’s also worked on a publication for Pan Macmillan/Plum for a MasterChef Australia contestant.

Simon says the intensity of the ICHM program suited him. ‘I liked the concept of learning a lot quickly, the industry training

and development and being around foreign students. A Pernod Ricard scholarship took him to La Rochelle in France, and on to Switzerland, Sweden and Germany.

Previously he’d done a year of a marketing degree, but dropped university studies to travel. He says that ICHM settled him down.

‘All I knew was that I loved food and travel and ICHM fitted the bill.

‘Although the focus is on hotel management, the business studies within that has really helped in the day-to-day running of my business. And the culinary training has been of enormous use, especially in relating to cooks and chefs. I have gained respect for knowing what food is going to do when it gets on the plate.’

ICHM 1998–2002

Industry placements Chateau Whistler Resort, Canada (1 year)

Rich pickingsBengt Baumgartner is another graduate making his mark in Melbourne. He picked up The Age Good Food Guide’s Sommelier of the Year award in 2011 for his wine education and service program at four iconic establishments, and is well on his way to achieving his ambition for the properties.

As well as his role covering 80 plus front-of house-staff at The European, City Wine Shop, Melbourne Supper Club and Siglo Bar—four diverse businesses housed at the one premises—Bengt is responsible for wine retail offerings, master classes and education courses for guests.

His efforts in 2011 earned him two other highly prized accolades—the Frankland Estate/Cellarhand Riesling Scholarship, a $10,000 prize to travel to Germany and Austria in June this year to visit key Riesling producers and see the great wine regions; and the Len Evans Tutorial, a week-long intensive wine course in the Hunter Valley.

Bengt says the calling of ‘restaurateur’ was his primary reason for entering the trade, well before starting at ICHM. ‘My experiences in hotels left me realising that the operating structure of restaurants was more flexible and encouraging of the type of service experience I wanted to deliver to guests’, he says.

Bengt had held various front-of house positions in Canberra before enrolling at ICHM. He moved to Melbourne after finishing the program—to the much-loved Melbourne Wine Room at the old George Hotel, working with an excellent chef and an extensive list of local and European wines. ’A great introduction to Melbourne restaurants’, he says.

Before travelling overseas for a year in 2007, he was restaurant manager at The European, returning as sommelier and then head sommelier for all four businesses in 2011.

He says ICHM taught him the fundamentals, in particular: ‘The importance of training and also working on my formal training skills, and how to build and document effective systems, focusing on wine education as a means to further opportunities.

‘My ambition is to be sought after by the trade for our reputation as the key venue in Melbourne for our ongoing wine education and service program. ‘

ICHM July 2001–December 2003

Industry placements 1 Cibo Ristorante Pasticceria, Adelaide 2 The Sebel Melbourne

Food & wine style

Melbourne

Great gustoIt has been said that if every neighborhood had an Italian eatery like Nick Faiello’s, the world would probably be a happier place. In Adelaide’s inner east, Gusto Ristorante is a bustling and fun place.

Nick didn’t take a day off for nine months when starting out, and even after 10 years he’s around six days a week, either back of house or on the floor. It’s a labour of love that’s paying off, with Gusto producing a steadily increasing revenue stream from day one.

Nick’s network, network network! started early. He and three fellow graduates headed to work at a resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui after graduating, with a visa made possible by the father of a graduate, the property’s general manager.

Nick says he’s always been fascinated by hotels, contributing this to his father who was a travel agent. He topped his SHA diploma with a Bachelor of Business (Hotel Management) from the University of South Australia, going on to support his studies working part time at the Hilton after his first industry placement.

Like Simon Bajada, Nick says he found ICHM’S program intense, but whether in the office or on the floor ‘it’s helped me big time’.

‘Everything we learnt I’ve applied here, and it’s knowledge that could be used in any hotel or restaurant. It included the project management skills that enabled me to lead a major renovation a few years ago.’

3

Tanzania

Cambodia

Siem ReapBevan Rakoia Restaurant: El Camino

‘I represent other investors—the people and energy that went into building this place is a collective of experiences and ideas that have made it possible.’

Cook Islander Bevan Rakoia is a managing partner in El Camino, a contemporary Mexican cuisine tapas-style restaurant and bar ‘in an amazing country right next door to the Temples of Angkor’.

‘I am fortunate to be having this experience’, he says.

His industry placements were focused on the total guest experience, from their arrival and stay to post-departure. However, he says his food and beverage business experience was limited.

‘El Camino was a window of opportunity to partner in a restaurant and build this knowledge.

‘The restaurant allows us to focus on improving the food and beverage value chain, through agriculture projects, local governance, the arts community and the private sector.’

Bevan became managing partner in 2011.

His ambition is to gain quality business experience to take back to the Cook Islands to implement a sustainable tourism business in waste, energy and guest management.

He says the hotel and travel industry is continuously growing, and ICHM provides the foundation to understand and apply knowledge and experience to implement best practice.

‘ICHM empowers you to manage energy and waste products that apply to the total guest experience. This has helped me to apply these attributes within a business environment.’

ICHM 1999–2004

Industry placements 1 Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia 2 Huka Lodge, Taupo, New Zealand 3 Amangani, Jackson Hole, WY, USA

Dar es Salaam Luisa Ponti Ristorante Bella Napoli

In opening an Italian restaurant in Dar es Salaam Tanzania, East Africa, Luisa Ponti says she’s fulfilling more than her own aspiration.

‘It has always been a dream of the family to open a fine-dining Italian restaurant in Tanzania with real Italian food.’

‘A lot of what I learnt at ICHM, especially in human resources, has helped me to do my job here. Also, the industry placements helped me better understand how the industry works.’

Luisa’s ambition for the restaurant is to introduce a new level of service and food quality to that part of the world.

ICHM 2006–2008

Industry placements 1 Crown Promenade Hotel, Melbourne 2 Hotel Conca Park, Sorrento, Italy

Mozambique

MaputoPatricia Camões Restaurant: Bel Piatto

After finishing her industry placement at the Four Seasons, Lisbon, Patricia Camões was offered a job managing a restaurant in Mozambique, and soon decided she wanted to open her own business there.

‘I realised there was a gap in the market for an up-market restaurant in Maputo, offering good service, an excellent menu and professionally trained staff.’

She says she built her network, met a lot of people and, most importantly, got her name out there. Her business plan was an Italian-themed fine-dining establishment catering to the top-end of the market, such as banks, embassies and government ministers.

‘My dream was to open a hotel . . . and still is. But I had to start somewhere, get money coming in and above all build experience and a reputation. I was young starting out, no-one knew me and the banks would not lend me the money. Obviously you have to be serious and work hard, but a restaurant can be the cheapest and easiest business to get going in and once the money starts coming in you can begin to build.’

With Bel Piatto now well established, Patricia has three new businesses in the pipeline—Bel Piatto Deli, Bel Piatto Bed and Breakfast and Bel Piatto Bakery.

Her ambition is to be recognised as a leading businesswoman in Mozambique.

She says that as well as basic working knowledge ICHM gave her business and management skills. ‘I was exposed to a lot of practical examples, and we were under a lot of pressure and competition from colleagues. This helped me get the skills I needed to be ready for the real life out there.’

ICHM 2007

Industry placement 1) Ritz Carlton Four Seasons, Lisbon, Portugal

Means to an endMalaysian-born Eddie Ye and his partners run the only yakitori restaurant in Adelaide and one of only four in Australia. According to Eddie, Takumi Yakitori is as much about the experience as it is about the food.

Eddie says it was really good for him to go to ICHM. ‘The early culinary training gave me a taste for cooking and business studies provided me with a foundation on which to create a business’, he says.

After leaving school Eddie intended heading to Switzerland or the United States to study hotel management; however, ICHM won out because of its SHA affiliation and culinary training.

‘I wanted to work in hotels—the travelling around and five-star image appealed to me. But from day one I found the cooking very interesting.’

Eddie says his family had a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia, and he remembers cooking with his grandmother at an early age, which he thinks may have provided the spark.

After ICHM, he went on to complete a Bachelor of Business (Hospitality and Tourism) at UniSA and he took up studies in patisserie and commercial cookery.

He says he is a natural for yakitori. Big in Japan, the cuisine consists of bite-sized pieces of chicken on bamboo skewers, basted with sauce while delicately grilled, usually over charcoal.

Gusto seats 110 inside and 40 outside, and most nights it’s brimming with customers, from families to foodies, mostly locals, so it knows its market.

For now, Nick says he’s happy concentrating on the restaurant, but he has ownership of a pub in his sights down the track.

‘A restaurant is a more viable way of establishing your own business than, say, a hotel. That the business is my own is one of the reasons I enjoy coming to work’, he says.

ICHM 1995–1998

Industry placements 1 Hilton Adelaide 2 Ritz Carlton Sydney 3 Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas

‘It’s yakitori’s potential to bring everything together in a form of cultural exchange that’s exciting. The ingredients are the heat of the grill, the aroma of sauces and people—from those preparing, cooking and serving the food to the guests enjoying it and each other. It’s about relationships and the truth of the human condition’, he says.

Eddie has plans to franchise the brand in the near future, but only among the young who first absorb the restaurant’s philosophy and training. ‘It’s about creating opportunities for our young people’, he says.

ICHM 1997–1999

Industry placements 1 Crown Casino Melbourne 2 Parkroyal Group Sydney 3 Shangri-La Malaysia

Overseas dispatches

Patricia Camões

Luisa Ponti

Bevan Rakoia

Bangkok Patriwit Sookdee Restaurant: Baan Khanitha

Delhi Jason Ling Restaurant: Ling’s Pavilion

Nick Faiello Eddie Ye

Bengt Baumgartner Simon Bajada

The newsletter of the International College of Hotel Management, Semester 1, 2012 Y www.ichm.edu.au4

End of Course 16 December 2011The End of Course Ceremony is the occasion at which SHA diploma and ICHM degree medals are awarded. Imalka Maddumapatabendi was Dux of Third Year (July–December 2011), and he went on, with Monica Chan, to give the farewell address on behalf of students.

Industry placements January–June 2012INTERNATIONAL

ChileW SantiagoMoll Sanchez, Dino

ChinaLe Royal Meridien ShanghaiJiang, Jerry (Zhou) Mullins, Louis Syropoulo, Max

Hong KongHong Kong Convention &

Exhibition CentreChan, Michael (Kam Hint)

IndonesiaRitz Carlton JakartaUtomo, Michael MacauGalaxy MacauTong Pena, Luis

The NetherlandsPark Plaza Victoria,

AmsterdamSavic, Aleksandra

TaiwanGrand Hyatt, TaipeiWu, Yi Ting

ThailandAnantara Resort SpaTangdumrongkol, Joe United Arab EmiratesMonte Carlo Beach Club

Saadiyat IslandHasanovic, MahiraMadinat Jumeirah Rhodes, Nathan United KingdomHilton Reading HotelSanders, JuliaGleneagles Hotel Johnson, ToddCrieff Hydro Henderson, Vanessa

VietnamMelia HanoiLe Phuong, Sandy (Thao)Sofitel Plaza Hanoi Goedecke, Jenna Truong, HongHotel Majestic SaigonPhan, Tien (Huy Tien) South AfricaLe Quartier Francais Anand, Sasha

AUSTRALIA

Australian Capital TerritoryHyatt HotelChang, Allie (Jen-Yi)

New South WalesFour Points Hotel Sheraton

Darling Harbour Hardie, Adrian Le, Trinh (Thi Kieu Trinh) InterContinental Chernysheva, Kate

(Ekaterina)

Northern TerritoryMantra on the Esplanade,

Darwin Dhakal,Yashoda

QueenslandLizard Island ResortCunniffe, Paige McIntosh, ChelseaPullman Reef Casino

Cairns Chen, Charlie (Yen-Ming) Ji, Janet (Hyunjeong) Yew, Aedan (Zi Xian)Sheraton Noosa Resort &

Spa Grant, JordanVan Dijke, LindaZwart, Carlijn Sheraton Mirage Port

Douglas Butler, Rene Hyatt Regency Coolum Bozzano, Federico Gioseffi, MichaelSheraton Mirage Resort &

Spa Gold Coast Chu, Amity (Tei-Tien) Lee, Ron (Myung Kyu)Peppers Broadbeach Pascha, Kiki (Paularin)

South AustraliaHotel Grand ChancellorMarlina, MargaretUdompol, MickIntercontinental Torres Murillo, OmarMedina TreasuryPark, Jesse Stamford Plaza Giles, Megan Heo, Ryan (Jae Hyuk) Lim, Venus (Hui Chi) Kaneta, Rita Southern Ocean Lodge,

Kangaroo IslandGlass, DianaPort Lincoln Hotel, Port

LincolnJagus, Jamsheed

VictoriaGrand Hyatt Chen, Robert (Kuan-Chung) Cormie, Cate Li, KittyKing, NicholasNguyen, SalandHilton on the Park Eunbi JunHotel Grand Chancellor Yoo, Violet (Heeyoung)InterContinental Cameron, James Russ, AmyLangham Hicks, Tom Vo, LeoMelbourne Convention

Exhibition Centre Ryu, Miru (Hanmeeroo)Sofitel Barada, DanielaLee, KathrynRACV City ClubLe, Tom Tam, LawrenceHogestijn, Anne

Travelodge Docklands Lim, Ai LinTravelodge SouthbankChoi, Ann (To Young)WestinGrozema, Rochelle Piva, Nicholas

Western AustraliaDuxton Hotel Lin, Kimberly (Ching Yi)Hyatt Regency Chen, Krista (Po-Jung)Chou, Miranda (Ya-Lan) Mather, Thomas Sum, Mike (Ying Chun) Pan PacificSouw, CherissaHoliday Inn, Burswood Tse, Bonnie (Yan Yin)

Events

3

42

51

1 Imalka Maddumapatabendi 2 Imalka Maddumapatabendi & Monica Chan3 SHA Medal recipients4 Degree Medal recipients5> Formalities over

5

8 9

Course Commencement 10 February 2012‘Welcome to our new students from around the world—from Argentina, Nepal, Malaysia

and many other countries—and to returning students. This is our opportunity to “turn the

tables”, with you as our invited guests.

‘Course Commencement has been a tradition of ICHM for close to 20 years, but the 2012

ceremony marks a new beginning. You are the first students to be studying our two

degrees, including the SHA-badged Bachelor of International Hotel Management about

which we’re very excited’, said lecturer Derek Milligan, Master of Ceremonies at Course

Commencement.

Derek acknowledged Dr Christoph Juen who was in Adelaide from Switzerland attending

his first Course Commencement Ceremony. Georgina Forwood, a graduate of ICHM and now

HR Business Partner for hospitality and food service provider Delaware North Companies

Australia, was also mentioned. In another first, 2012 is the first year Delaware has awarded

an ICHM prize.

Certificates of Academic Achievement (1st Year) went to Melanie Buckland, Indya Dwyer,

Hannah Mansfield, Matthew John and Simone Friemann (acknowledged); and 2nd Year

Poppy Bowen, Murphy Loh and Fintan Tuttle.

Sagar Sadarangani and Anastasia Kakridas gave the welcome address on behalf of students.

Awards1 Hannah Mansfield, Dux of 1st Year

Cameron Sykes Memorial Scholarship Luke James Food & Beverage Incentive Award

2 Poppy Bowen, Dux of 2nd Year Delaware North Companies Australia Prize Inset: with Georgina Forwood

3 Viviana Cheon Uhak Channel Scholarship

4 Yoomi Choi KOSA Award

5 Sagar Sadarangani and Anastasia Kakridas6 MC lecturer Derek Milligan & students7 Merit award winners

Inset: Murphy Loh (6 certificates)8 ICHM’s Rosanna Ku (right) & students9> Formalities over

75 6

1 2

3 4

The newsletter of the International College of Hotel Management, Semester 1, 2012 Y www.ichm.edu.au6

Proficiency in a second language is a prerequisite for ICHM’s commitment to the concept of ‘Swissness’—one of the eight graduate qualities that ICHM is intent on producing in its graduates.

The concept of ‘Swissness’ includes linguistic ability and a global mindset, developed through a combination of language studies and international travel.

For example, in 2011 Joel Bentley, Jake De Simoni and Casey Hutchison studied Italian in Florence. This year, Alex Blunden, Cameron McKenzie and Krystal Wood are in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, at the Spanish language school VOS- Club Cultural Español en Buenos Aires. The three have taken up homestay accommodation to achieve even greater language immersion.

Krystal reports:

‘As the fresh new year began we set off on a new adventure, and so far we’ve learnt much more that we could have ever dreamed possible. We have been given the opportunity to experience a new culture, lifestyle and environment unimaginable back in Adelaide.

We attend classes 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. No class is the same, as each day we progress in our learning and experience the true Argentinean lifestyle by taking excursions to many places, including ice-cream stores, parks, supermarkets and shops.

The school is building quite a name in the media with recognition on local radio stations, local and national newspapers, and television news reports, including Argentinean CNN.

Our time here is flying by quickly and we are enjoying each day by taking in the new and wonderful experiences being offered. We are putting network, network, network! into action every day making friends and meeting new people from all corners of the globe, each with incredibly interesting stories and experiences.

With many more adventures to undertake and lessons to be learnt we can be quite certain this will be the experience of a lifetime, one never to forget.’

Work rights good news for graduates

Language studies

This work rights announcement by the Australian Government in late 2011 could be the decider for many students considering hotel management studies.

From time to time the Australia Government’s policy on the rights of students to stay in Australia after graduation changes. However, over the past seven years many ICHM graduates have been able to stay on. For some, it’s simply been about being able to spend a few years living and working in Australia before returning home. For others, it is the capacity to earn Australian dollars. Yet others want to move toward Australian permanent residency and citizenship.

‘The firming up of these rights is welcome news’, says Gerald Lipman. ‘While we are not migration experts and thus cannot give advice to potential students, the information on the website and the Minister’s statement make the situation reasonably clear.

http://www.immi.gov.au/students/_pdf/2011-post-study-work.pdf

After the announcement, The Australian newspaper (6 December 2011) quoted the Immigration Department as saying:

‘The mechanism for taking up these work rights should be administratively very simple.

‘The scheme must be one which can be marketed by the universities to prospective student as almost guaranteeing post-study work rights.’

‘Unquestionably there is an advantage for students to be able to stay in Australia and work after graduation’, says Gerald Lipman. ‘The fact that ICHM offers more internships than any other hotel school (up to four 750-hour periods) gives our graduates a real advantage in looking for a position in Australia’, he says.

Scholarships 2012

Overseas students who enrol at ICHM and study for at least two years and get a bachelor degree

can stay in Australia and work for up to two years.

Alison McKay Somerville House, Queensland

‘As an avid traveller and a keen student of languages (Japanese and Spanish), I would like to manage international relations within a major hotel.’

In 2012 four students were awarded scholarships worth $20,000, spread over four years.

Jay Park The Knox School, Victoria

‘I am convinced that ICHM encapsulates all of the elements a student needs to capture the essence of what it is to be an international hotelier.’

Tom Machniak Mazenod College, Victoria

‘With ICHM’s program I would be capable of fast tracking into human resources, managing the people relations within an industry of my choice.’

Lachlan Sinclair Melbourne High School, Victoria

‘I would thrive on the excitement of managing front of house, making sure that my customers were happy right from their first steps in the door.’

Centre: Krystal Wood, Alexandra Blunden (sitting) and Cameron McKenzie in La Nación, Argentina’s leading newspaper

7

In a good cause

Students contributing to the community through getting

involved in and making donations to causes are expressions of social responsibility, a concept promoted

by ICHM. It took many forms in 2011.

Movember (the month formally known as November) is a month-long global charity to raise awareness, support and funding for serious men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and male depression.

On 1 November, Nick Piva (centre) and fellow ICHM ‘Mo Bros’ registered with Movember and began sprouting their Mos

(moustaches), joining thousands of men in 10 countries who effectively become walking, talking billboards for these causes for 30 days.

ICHM’s Mo Bros’ efforts raised a healthy $A641, adding to the more than $82 million worldwide.

Congratulations Mo Bros. Great effort!

Daffodil DayDaffodil Day is an annual event of the Cancer Council, which raises funds to back research, prevention programs and support services for patients an their families.

In 2011, the second semester Student Representative Council (SRC) decided to take part by ordering Daffodil Day merchandise to sell and promoting a ‘wear yellow day’.

There was such an overwhelming response to the merchandise that it sold out within a few days, and the campus became a sea of yellow on 26 August, the designated Daffodil Day.

Through its endeavours and the generosity of staff and students, the SRC raised $A857.

At the end of each semester, ICHM has arrangements in place with the Salvation Army to collect any unwanted clothes, shoes, bags and other items. Uniforms that are in good repair and unwanted textbooks are also recycled, including to hotel schools in the Philippines, Malaysia, Kenya and Nepal.

Vintage ICHMICHM also takes part in The Butterfly Movement’s shoe drive, donating shoes for East Africa to help prevent lesions caused by Jiggers, a sand flea that burrows into feet, particularly children’s feet.

Mo Bros

‘Pose for Charity: We Can Be Heroes, Just for One Day’, was the theme for a photo-shoot organised by the Pose for Charity Team on 19 November, to help raise awareness of and funds for AIDS Australia as part of World AIDS Day.

The event raised $A561, and contributions came in many forms—volunteering for the awareness video, making a donation and buying red ribbons, a Pose for Charity calendar and custom-labelled wine.

Alex Larumbe, AIDS Australia’s chief executive officer, flew to Adelaide to champion the cause with the team.

The Pose for Charity Team thanks all their heroes who made time to attend and support the cause.

Heroes for a day

Third years wearing the merchandise

International College of Hotel Management

CRICOS Provider Code 02914 G ICHM Pty Ltd

GPO Box 249 Adelaide South Australia 5001

Freecall Australia 1800 246 875 | Telephone 61 8 8228 3636 | Facsimile 61 8 8228 3684

admissions@ichm.edu.au | www.ichm.edu.au | www.community.ichm.edu.au

Ichm Australia

ICHM appreciates being able to publicise graduate

success stories in On Course. While most graduates

value the profile, others chose to take a more

conservative stand. It is ICHM policy to contact

graduates in the preparation of any item or article,

and if ‘no publicity’ is your preference please

clearly decline our request.

8 The newsletter of the International College of Hotel Management, Semester 1, 2012 Y www.ichm.edu.au

It is fitting here that I reiterate some of the features of our Bachelor of International Hotel Management (Swiss Hotel Association) and the reasons that make us so immensely proud of our new flagship qualification.

As mentioned in our cover story, the degree has the imprimatur of the Swiss Hotel Association to create the first degree in the world with the stamp of this famous century-old association.

The degree was developed with the involvement of ICHM’s graduate advisory group. As members of the group are fresh faces operating at top levels in many facets of hotel management, we are confident that the curriculum is up with the very latest trends and developments.

Indeed, the degree required a complete rewrite of the curriculum, with significant input from a range of international experts. As part of this, we have been able to move the early years of the program out from vocational education into higher education (or university) sector status.

Our successful students will graduate with a double degree—the Bachelor of Business (Hospitality Management) and Bachelor of International Hotel Management (Swiss Hotel Association). We use the phrase ‘one program, two degrees’ in our marketing efforts as it differentiates our degrees from the duality of a typical double degree.

These are some of the features that give us cause for confidence in the attractiveness of ICHM’s program. But there is another factor that makes this course unique. It is the first time an Australian hospitality course—and possibly any Australian course—has been benchmarked against the European Bologna Agreement.

That we met the European Higher Education (Bologna) standards was a requirement of the Swiss Hotel Association, on top of their essential curriculum requirements of skills, academic knowledge and professionalism.

About 13 years ago a number of countries in Europe—both European Union countries as well as neighbouring nations like Switzerland, Norway and Russia—signed an agreement that set standards for higher education qualifications—Bachelor, Masters and Doctorate. There are now 47 signatories to the agreement, which was signed in Bologna in northern Italy in 1999 (hence its title).

The Europeans had a number of goals. Firstly they wanted to make it easy to move from one country to another to

study or work. Secondly, as Europe has an established and highly regarded higher education sector, it was appropriate that qualifications from within the region were compatible so that students, educational institutions, professional organisations and employers from outside the region could deal with them on a unified basis. Thirdly, it would lead to a convergence with Anglo Saxon countries, where Bachelor, Master and Doctorate terminology had been in use for a long time.

The measuring point of the agreement is the European Credit Transfer Standards (ECTS), with an ETS made up of 25–30 ‘student work hours’ (defined as the total of classroom and self-study hours).

There are 180–240 ECTS in a Bachelor degree; ICHM’s Bachelor of International Hotel Management (Swiss Hotel Association) has been assessed as having 256 ECTS. Importantly, Bologna recognises the importance of industry placement, and we have been able to incorporate the hours our students earn over two or more placements into the ECTS formula.

As with the SHA Diploma we have been awarding for almost 20 years, students need to show fluency in a second language to be awarded the Bachelor of International Hotel Management (Swiss Hotel Association). This can be either a home language or a language learned during the course.

Obviously, having a degree that is rated against the Bologna standards gives additional cache to ICHM’s qualifications, and we foresee more students from Europe actively seeking out such a program. Other students too, over time, will realise the difference between ICHM’s degrees and others, not only for the superior Bologna assessment, but also the subjects on offer and the program mix of 50% on campus study and 50% in industry on placement.

So, in 2012 ICHM has much to celebrate in the build up to its 20th anniversary, especially our continuing ties with the Swiss Hotel Association, made even stronger this year with the BIHM SHA (as it is becoming widely known). Our commitment to ‘Swissness’ has been embedded into the program through our eight Graduate Qualities, developed to articulate our intentions in relation to our graduates.

And as always we celebrate the success of our graduates not only within hotels, but also in other fields. This On Course includes a snapshot of graduates paving their way as restaurateurs in Australia and around the world (pages 2 & 3). They acknowledge that at ICHM they gained the foundation knowledge and skills on which they’ve built their businesses. Our new degrees, with core subjects such as e-Marketing & Distribution and electives such as Entrepreneurship and Gastronomy, will continue to do just that for our graduates into the future.

Gerald Lipman

Chief Executive’s comments

Luke Causer and Marc Dasan (right) with Georgina Forwood, ICHM graduate and DNCA’s HR Business Partner

Someone’s got to do it!The awarding of a scholarship and allocating places for students on industry placement signal the start of ICHM’s budding relationship with Delaware North Companies Australia (DNCA). Last semester, Luke Causer and Marc Dasan were the first students to go DNCA’s Great Barrier Reef Lizard Island Resort. The property is ranked 3rd in Australian Traveller’s top 10 luxury lodges list for 2011!

Network, network, network!

Graduates in Melbourne!

Natalia Rodrigues has taken over Jade Gosling’s position in Sales & Marketing for Pacific for the Hyatt, based at the Grand Hyatt. Jade is now in Columbia with partner Alejandro Mendoza, and the pair (both profiled in On Course last year) is looking to open a restaurant in the near future.

Natalia says Jade gave her the heads up about the position. ‘Just goes to show how important networking is and how integral ICHM has been to my career.’

ICHM is planning a birthday bash in 2013, celebrating 20 years since opening its doors to a bunch of students keen to enter what was then the relatively new profession of hotel management. On 30 September this year ICHM marks another milestone—the 20th anniversary of the signing of the agreement between the SHA and the South Australian Government, enabling ICHM to operate as the SHA’s Asia-Pacific basin campus.

More information about the January celebrations will be in the Semester 2 edition of On Course, and on the website and Facebook (from mid-year).