STA measures benefits of lecturers’ internship training |11 April 2014

Lecturers of the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA) have on countless occasions followed training overseas thanks to the memoranda of understanding signed between the local institution and its trade partners and tourism bodies overseas.

The STA understands that these exchanges are pivotal in fine-tuning its lecturers’ professional development and exposing them to current working environment in the tourism industry so that they can translate their experiences to their students.

The hospitality management course is a full-fledge course at the STA and when the institution started running the course, it put together a pool of professionals to train students to meet the required course standards in conformity with Shannon College of Hotel Management in Ireland.

With two batches of students successfully graduating with their diplomas and degrees in hotel management, the STA feels that its professionals behind the scene contributing to the students’ successes are pushing boundaries to discharge their responsibilities in the most conducive conditions possible.

Yet in the field of tourism, a professional cannot remain complacent and stagnant with its professional skills because there’s always room for innovation.

Valentina Barra is the course leader of the advanced diploma in hospitality management. She joined the STA three years ago with a degree in tourism and hospitality management and then proceeded to attain a post graduate certificate in education with the support of the STA. Over the two years, Valentina benefited from two main overseas exposure – one at Shannon College of Hotel Management in Ireland and recently at Constance Belle Mare Plage Hotel in Mauritius.

Theoretically, teaching a course is one thing, but experiencing the services and imparting the knowledge to students is a different matter and a more effective approach to teaching. It is with this mind that Valentina’s internship at Constance Belle Plage was focused on.

“At the Constance Belle Plage Hotel I was given the opportunity to be behind the scene. I was able to experience from A-Z, from the time a client book his room until his departure at the hotel. When you’re in front of a class you need to show students that you’re confident of what you are teaching them. You don’t simply know the theoretical side of your work, but can translate it to hotel’s current services,” Valentina said.

According to Valentina, teachers gain respect from students when they are confident in their teaching.

“In a field like tourism, you never stop learning. You need to be continuously on the move, gain new knowledge and give your students emerging skills and techniques. It is easy for students to understand that you lack the practical component of a course. Going out on internship, being in contact with professionals in the tourism industry and learning their practices are important to our progress,” she added.

Brigitte Joubert is the head of studies in the same department. She is the lecturer of tourism, business communications as well as marketing and is another lecturer who was attached in the public relations and sales department at Constance Belle Mare Plage Hotel.

During her internship, Brigitte helped host various educational tours and observed the handling of complaints by public relations officers and sales managers.
She also interacted with guests, travel agents and product managers visiting the hotels.

At a certain stage of their training, it will be required of the students to process these skills and Brigitte said these kinds of training are surely rewarding as they give the lecturers the extra mile to understand what is required of them teachers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

“I now have a greater understanding of how a hotel group operates after getting the chance to not just spend time at the hotel but in the Constance headquarters as well,” said Brigitte.