Pursuing tourism business skills at The Tourism Academy@Sentosa

Singapore also offers quality hospitality and tourism schools, such as The Tourism Academy@Sentosa that produces graduates who are not only more employable, but also have easy access to the world's renowned universities.

Situated on the resort island of Sentosa, The Tourism Academy provides two-year full-time course on hospitality and tourism for local and international students in an environment conducive to tourism business learning activities.

Upon completion, students will receive a Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Business awarded by Temasek Polytechnic, a statutory board under the Ministry of Education.

The Tourism Academy is becoming increasingly popular among international students thanks to its curriculum that blends academic studies and practical training.

The Tourism Academy is collaboration between Sentosa Leisure Group, which manages Singapore's only island resort of Sentosa, and Temasek Polytechnic, a government tertiary institution that is renowned for its market-oriented and industry-relevant education.

At The Tourism Academy, students are encouraged to participate in broad-based practical training by working in hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, attractions and other recreational facilities on the resort island, in addition to attending classes on principles of marketing, business etiquette, service excellence, travel business, food & beverage business and other hospitality and tourism-related subjects in the school's classrooms.

Businesses on the 500-hectare Sentosa Island, one of Asia's preferred leisure destinations, serve as a practical training ground for students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to a real business environment.

The practical training is part of the school's curricula, and it is conducted under the school's 15-week internship program. Under the program, students are expected to equip themselves with first-hand experience in the industry and "most importantly, they can exercise their professional attitude in a real-life situation so that they can be ready to embrace the real working world when they graduate," Yong Kit Mun, the Course Manager of The Tourism Academy, says.

At the school, students are encouraged to be active not only during practical training but also when attending classes thanks to its teaching method that goes beyond textbooks and classrooms. During the course of academic study that runs for four semesters, the students are encouraged to analyze and solve problems related to the business of tourism.

They are given the opportunity to work on real-life projects such as research on or a sales promotion for actual companies. "They also have the opportunity to get up close views of the businesses like organizing a mega event, and to exchange ideas with industry," Yong says.

Apart from the real business setting, quality and varied teaching methods, the college is also backed up by excellent facilities and experienced teaching staff.

The school's facilities include a restaurant and kitchen, computer laboratories, library services, air-conditioned rooms for seminars and small-group discussions. These are spread over a complex of historical buildings amidst lush greenery and located next to a sandy beach.

The members of the teaching team come from diverse backgrounds, ranging from the travel to the lodging business, from event-planning to airlines, from the food and beverage business to the tourism board. Their international make-up, global exposure and experience in senior positions, in both operations and management add value to students' learning.

Once in a while, the school invites guest lecturers from the island partners to share their experiences and insights, thus helping students appreciate the relevance of real-life situations in the working world.

For example, a designed topic in 'Food & Beverage Operations' might be taught through a forum where the panel speakers are executives invited from Sentosa's restaurants and hotels.

Career Prospects

Graduates are expected to possess business skills, technical know-how on key aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry, IT skills, life skills, analytical thinking skills, problem- solving skills, positive attitudes and an entrepreneurial mindset.

With a Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Business, graduates can choose to work in virtually any service sector, from arts to leisure, from hospitality to recreation, in fact any tourism- related business.

Employment opportunities are not confined to hotels, but they might find employment with the civil service, country clubs, resorts, food service businesses, events management companies, entertainment promoters, exhibition and convention companies, tour operators, museums, national tourism organizations, retail and leisure attractions.

Graduates who wish to pursue further study are also able to gain direct entry into renowned universities, such as the University of Queensland, Australian National University in Australia; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; University of Massachusetts and University of Hawaii in the United States; as well as University of Surrey and Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.