Since entering into a partnership with France’s Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School in 2011, the School D’Hospitality (SDH) Institute in Singapore has recently clinched accreditation by the American Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA).
Under this accreditation, SDH Institute was found to have met or exceeded the stated standards of the US’ educational quality. Its curriculum is also recognised by Vatel France and the Institute of Hospitality in the UK.
Vatel contributes regular updates to SDH Institute’s curriculum, compulsory regular industrial attachments at critical junctures of the programme, as well as introduced an emphasis on professional applications of hospitality skills.
Since offering Vatel curriculum, the institute has seen a more diverse pool of students from around Asia, shared Isaac Joshua, head (academics) at SDH Institute.
He observed: “At the moment, some of the challenges within Singapore’s hospitality industry are maintaining a consistent service offering, the lack of manpower, difficulty in attracting employees and high staff turnover, high operating costs and embracing technology.
“There’s unlikely an immediate solution to these but (it) calls for a relook at a sustainable business model and change-oriented leadership to manage employees, guests and all other stakeholders.”
He explained: “Lots brainstorming takes place together with the opportunity to be exposed to other countries’ educational and industry styles and challenges. Overall, I would say, we have adopted a rather global curriculum thanks to the French.
“Learners are regularly exposed to our industry partners to identify and solve real issues and problems. We believe such active learning approaches have the ability to improve learners’ critical and creative thinking skills, beneficial for future managers.”
