CHS launches career path in hoteliering

Hiran H.Senewiratne

HOTELIERING: The Ceylon Hotel School (CHS) training is one of the most sought after qualifications in Sri Lanka. This is a profession that has a 100 per cent employability, its Principal Kamal Hapuwatte said.

The CHS operates under the Ministry of Tourism and is administered by the Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB). The CTB is funding the CHS through the Cess Fund.

The aim of the school is to encourage professionalism in the hospitality and travel industry providing theoretical and practical training in various aspects, and at all levels, for young men and women entering or wishing to advance in their careers in the industry, Happuwatte said.

At present it has five satellite campuses, which are based in Colombo, Kandy, Matara, Anuradhapura and Bandarawela. It has a student population of more than 1200 in all campuses.

It conducts many certificate and diploma courses for prospective hoteliers in the country. All certificate courses are five months in duration and one has to obtain three credit passes at the GCE (O/L) examination including English and Mathematics.

These disciplines are five months in duration, which are, conducted on professional cookery, restaurant and bar management, hotel reception and hotel housekeeping. It also has a three-year Hospitality Management Diploma programme for prospective hotelier who has pass two subjects in GCE A/L and credit pass in English in OLs.

It also expects to start new courses in July for hoteliers who are already employed in the field.

Those are travel, and tourism diploma and culinary art diploma programme, which are part time one-year programmes. The charges are competitive but affordable. The certificate course will cost Rs. 5000 while the diploma programme will cost around Rs. 5000 per month.

According to Hapuwatte the faculty of the school comprises of lecturers in professional cookery, food and beverage operations, Front office operations, hotel housekeeping and travel and tourism operations with visiting lecturers for languages such as English, Japanese, German, French and Italian and other related subjects such as management, manpower studies, financial management, hotel law and legislation, human relations, maintenance, computer literacy, hotel sales and marketing and environmental awareness.

The CHS is affiliated to the Falzburg University in Austria, which offers a three year Bachelor degree for diploma holders of the CHS. Is also is in the process of working out a similar arrangement with the University of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

'The best place to start is at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management or CHS, where one will receive a sound training to start your career'. Tourism is world's number one industry in terms of the turnover and employment. It has a gross output of US $ 3,500 billion a year and employs 204 million persons all over the world.

The Institute is expecting to double the intake with the expansion of satellite campuses which 30 per cent in the hospitality has some king of formal qualification in the country.

It also expects to attract students from other countries. At present two Myanmar students have already registered with them. They also expect to attract Maldives, Iranian, Bhutan and Indian students as well.

In Sri Lanka tourism as an industry commenced in 1966. Since then it has become a premier industry providing employment to over 150,000 persons. The industry is a model employer providing employees with many fringe benefits. If you like working with people and enjoy meeting people from all parts of the world the, tourist industry is an ideal opportunity for a bright career.