week and spend the remainder of
the week working in industry. This
ensures they can continue to earn
a salary and learn at the same time.
This type of learning supports the
employer while allowing the employee time to enhance their skills
and knowledge and gain a qualification. It also reinforces the concept of life-long learning.
From an Irish perspective I believe
we are based on feedback from my
colleagues, all who work closely
across the sector in Ireland. As a
result of this working practice our
partners know exactly what our students are exposed to in terms of
learning and skills and knowledge
and as a result they have every right
to expect only the best from GMIT
graduates. I should add our graduates are getting jobs in industry
prior to final exams so that for me
is one form of confirmation we are
doing a lot right. But we can always
do more.
Through developing many new
awards we listen to our industry partners and understand the
challenges they face. As a result we
adopted a variety of blended learning approaches and this has resulted in providing new opportunities
for some learners who may not have
engaged with education in the past.
Blended learning is a term used to
describe the way e-learning is being
combined with traditional classroom methods and independent
study to create a new, hybrid teaching methodology and it does suit
many working in the tourism sector. In GMIT some learners come
to us for maybe one or two days per
INSIDER SPECIAL EDITION
It is also worth sharing that today’s tourism students are not just
eighteen years old and leaving high
school. Many are careers changers
or mature students and quality of
life is important to them. In the past
some of us worked 70 hours-plus a
week - this does not mean it is fine
to expect that from every employee.
However I do believe that there will
always be visionary places of work
where long hours are required.
But balance is essential in order
to maintain a creative and healthy
workforce.
In GMIT we are under no illusions
as to how tough the industry is, and
we share this insight with our students daily. But we also have to lead
by example and share the good-news
stories with students. How are we
expected to recruit learners to these
programmes if the bad-news stories just keep coming? I therefore
urge all hotel and tourism bodies to
please keep working with your local
hotel school or tourism education
provider; together you can succeed.
In Ireland we have a vibrant professional hotel organisation, the
Irish Hotels Federation which works
closely with GMIT and other tourism education providers. Having a
strong partnership ensures that we
work together when developing new
programmes, when modifying curriculum, when meeting students to
discuss work placement and graduate
opportunities. The partnership we
have formed serves all parties well.
In Malta the industry has the Maltese
Hotel and Restaurant Association.
I know we will
work very well
together to plan
and progress the
new Mediterranean
Institute of Tourism
Studies coming to
Malta
Having worked with the MHRA
over the last six months I see many
similarities with this association
and the Irish body and I know we
will work very well together to plan
and see progress in the new Mediterranean Institute of Tourism
Studies coming to Malta soon.
The new Mediterranean Institute of
Tourism Studies is a development I
am very excited to be part of. I see
how important tourism is to the
islands of Malta and Gozo and the
hospitality on both islands is simply
outstanding. Malta is most definitely the jewel in the Mediterranean.
To have the opportunity to collaborate with other leading schools and
colleges from around the world, to
develop a world class tourism education school which will engage
learners from all over the world is
beyond exciting and invigorating.
Not only will these graduates serve
the needs of the tourism industry
globally, I am confident that these
students and this school will put
Malta on the tourism education
map and let’s see how that influences and supports the next generation of tourism leaders.
2015
91