HOSPITALITY SCHOOL AWARDS CATEGORY:

BEST INNOVATION IN AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Student Employment Programme

Project Title:

A Strategic Partnership with Top Hotel Brands: STEP & GeM Talent Development

Programme to Fast-Track Hospitality Graduates to Management Position

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Initiative Content

At Taylor’s University, our mandate for academic excellence is driven by the need to make a difference. Taylor’s University has constantly expanded its developmental horizons to keep ahead of the times, while remaining steadfast to its core purpose. As a result, Taylor’s University teaching philosophy is centered on its unwavering focus to educate and assist its students to take their productive places as leaders in the global hospitality industry. To achieve these noble objectives, the Student Employment Programme (STEP) and Future General Manager Programme (GeM) was introduced.

Student Employment Programme

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Initiative Goals

Taylor’s School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts (TCHT) has

developed a strategic collaborative model with the hotel industry

to achieve a singular goal which is to enable its graduates to fast-

track their careers into management position with world class hotel

brands.

To break the industry norm of starting a career from ‘rank and file’,

TCHT has developed two structured training programmes for

students to be trained and groomed by industry experts and be

enculturalised into the companies’ mission, vision and corporate

values that enable fresh graduates to hold management positions

upon graduation.

Student Employment Programme (STEP)

With the rapid and massive expansion of hotel properties in Asia, Taylor’s

School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts (TCHT) being one of the leading

Hospitality Schools in South East Asia have studied the number of properties

that will be build by hotel companies in Asia for the next 5 to 10 years. The

expansion plans create a demand for strategic alliances in support of the

industries expansion plans.

The initiative to develop the Student Employment Programme (STEP) is

offered to Top Hospitality Employers an opportunity to create a pipeline of

talents to be fed into their existing properties and placed into properties in

their expansion plans globally.

Partnership

The evolution of both STEP programmes began in 2010 with the first signing of MoU with Shangri-La hotels and 5 years later today, Taylor’s University has strategically signed a total of 6 Memorandum of Understanding with top hotel companies. The table below illustrates the evolution of partnership with hotels group.

No. MoU Date Companies

1 29.09.2010 Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

2 19.08.2011 Hilton Hotels World wide

3 20.09.2012 Mandarin Oriental Hotel

4 05.06.2013 Starwood Hotels and Resorts

5 26.09.2014 Accor Hotels (Ibis)

6. 18.09.2015 InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG)

The Shangri-La Hotel Group

In 2010, the Student Employment Programme (STEP) was introduced to the industry with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Taylor’s first partner, The Shangri-La Hotel Group.

From left: Mr. Andrew Quay, DOHR Traders KL, Mr. YeohTay Boon, Deputy Dean, Hospitality Management at TCHT, Mr Markus Iseli, Hotel Manager Shangri-La KL, Mr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Dean of TCHT, Mr. Christopher Raj, Area Director of HR, Shangri-La Malaysia, Ms. Ruby Gong, DOHR Shangri-La KL and Mr. CV Healy, General Manager, Shangri-La Putrajaya posed after the STEP signing ceremony. 29/9/2010

Hilton Worldwide – 10 August 2011

In 2011, the second signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hilton Worldwide was sealed on the 10th August 2011.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

In 2012, the third signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group was signed on the 30th September 2012.

(from Left - Right) Dr. Perry Hobson, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Division of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts; Mr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Taylor’s University; Ms. Jacqueline Moyse,

Head of Organisational Development, MOHG and Ms. Penny Kok, Director of Human Resources, Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur posed after the signing ceremony.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts

In 2013, the fourth signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group was signed on the 5th June 2013.

(from Left - Right) Mr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Taylor’s University (2nd from left) and Mr. Chuck Abbot, Regional Vice President, SEA, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (2nd from right) were the signatories for the STEP programme

while Mr. Neethiahnanthan A.R., Dean of TCHT (1st from left) and Mr. Harvey Thompson, General Manager of Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur (1st from right) singed as witnesses.

Accor Hotels

Accor Hotels was the first partnership that Taylor’s had signed an MoU for both STEP & GeM programmes on the26th September 2014 . The rationale is that Accor has an array of hotels that ranges from 5 star hotels to budget hotels. This would require Accor to identify and select students for both type of hotel set-up, hence the first partnership with 2 programmes.

On this very day, the CEO of Accor MIS, Mr. Gerard Guillouet (2nd from right) and his Regional Director of Accor, Mr. Graeme Ham ( far right) shared with Taylor’s that Accor’s expansion plans for Indonesia is growing fast and that they would like to adopt

another batch of students focusing primarily for the Indonesian market. With that, Taylor’s and Accor signed a new MoU that focuses in creating opportunity for Indonesian nationality students to secure employment and feed into Accor’s Indonesian

expansion plans.

Accor Hotels - Indonesia

Signing ceremony at Pullman Jakarta witnessed by Professor. Dato. Dr. Hassan Said – Vice – Chancellor of Taylor’s University with Accor Indonesia CEO Mr. Michel Vivier and withnessed by His Excellency Dato’ Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim,

Malaysian Ambassador to Jakarta

Innovative Aspects – STEP Programme

STEP Programme is designed for students in their final 2 years while pursuing their Bachelor of International Hospitality Management (Hons) at Taylor’s University. As the program promises ‘crème-de la-crème’ students, only 15-17 students will be accepted and adopted by hotel partners. Students will undergo both their internships at the partners properties globally and a series of training program is carried out by the partners every 2 months during their studies. Upon graduation and by fulfilling the recruitment criteria of hotel partners, graduates will be offered a hotel mid - management position or accepted into a management trainee position as full-time employees.

Implementation

Students are invited to witness MoU signing ceremonies with partners. After which, students are offered to apply their interest with the schools hospitality faculty via a registration form. The application process starts with a vigorous selection process and application that meets the minimum requirements will be interviewed by the Deputy Dean and Program Director of TCHT faculty. Once approved, a recommendation of the shortlisted applications is put through another interview session with the industry partner. Upon successful selection by the industry partners, students are then put through a 1 day training program to assess their competencies in communication, teamwork and leadership capabilities. Upon successfully going through the selection process, the students will be notified of their acceptance into the programme. Typically 15-17, these students will be grouped into a dedicated class (ie: The Shangri-La Class). This group of students will then attend an adoption ceremony where they are officially accepted and given a certificate of acceptance. The 2 year journey begins!

After the adoption, a series of compulsory programmes will be carried out 6 times per year and students will

participate in specially designed training sessions, workshops and seminars, organised by the industry partner.

In addition, the selected students will undergo both their Internships in the final two years of their Bachelor

Programme with the partner properties. Typically the first internship is offered in any of the partner properties

within Malaysia and the final internship is placed at any of the partner’s properties in South East Asia or

worldwide.

Upon completion of the final internship and by fulfilling the partner’s recruitment criteria, these students will

be offered a middle management or management trainee position.

Implementation

Testimonials:

Raghu Menon - Guest Service Manager, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur “The STEP programme has lived up to its promise in helping me fast track my career in Shangri-La. I was promoted to a managerial position in less than a year”

Bill Xuan Hao - Sales Manager, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur

“STEP has enabled me to fast track my career to Sales Manager position in less than a year. This is a major achievement in a highly competitive and high standard industry”

As the STEP programme gain momentum and started to attract

top employers and interest from students, TCHT received

feedback from hotel companies and industry practitioners that

manage and own mid-range, to develop a similar programme as

STEP.

Given the massive expansion plans for mid-range hotels in Asia,

there is demand to groom students to be hotel managers in the

future. With that, the Future General Manager (GeM) Program

was introduced.

Diversification of Programme

In 2012, TCHT launched the GeM Programme with 3 new partners, The Best Western Malaysia,

Tune Hotels and Compass Hospitality.

GeM Program is a comprehensive management and leadership development programme

designed by Taylor’s University to groom aspiring hospitality management students into

promising young hoteliers of the future. It fosters an entrepreneurial spirit and mindset in our

student, to prepare them for senior management positions. The selection process and duration is

similar to STEP, the differences is in the training programme. The training program is based on a

set of competencies and sub-competencies to enable students to lead and make decisions as a

General Manager.

Future General Manager (GeM) Program

(from left) Prof. Dr. Perry Hobson, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Taylor’s University; Mr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Taylor’s University, Dr. TR Warran, Group Director of Corporate Affairs, Trinidad Holdings Sendirian Berhad; Mr. Harmil Singh, President and Chief Executive

Officer, Compass Hospitality; Mr. Anwar Ali Jumabhoy, Director of Operations, Tune Hotels and Mr. Neethiahnanthan A.R., Dean of TCHT posed after the signing ceremony as they launch the GeM programme.

Due to the success of GeM Programme, on the 30th April 2014 Taylor’s School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts has achieved yet another milestone towards industry collaboration.

With the signing of GeM (Future General Manager Program) with three more leading hotel chain in Malaysia, Empire Group of Hotels, Dorsett Hotels International & Swiss Garden Hotels & Resorts.

Future General Manager 2 (GeM) Program

(from left) Mr. Haresh Singh Gill, Associate Dean – Enterprise & Industry; Dr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Taylor’s University, Datin Jasmine Heng Abdullah, Vice President, Dorsett Hospitality International; Mr. Ricky Ho,

General Manager – Empire Group of Hotels; Mr. Sherman Chow; Director of Human Resources, Swiss Garden Hotels; and Mr. Neethiahnanthan A.R., Dean of Taylor’s University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Art posed after the signing ceremony.

Innovative Aspects – GeM Programme

GeM Programme competencies are the framework of the General Manager’s knowledge, skills abilities and characteristics that contribute to his/her success in the job.

By identifying these competencies, we are able to structure the GeM programme to systematically prepare students to assume leadership roles as future hotel managers. They will be equipped with these competencies through workshops, seminars, lectures, special projects and assignments, and mentoring and coaching by appointed academic and industry leaders, such as general managers. The General Manager Competencies (GMCs) include the following:

Innovative Aspects – GeM Programme

GeM Core Competencies

The Core Competencies the then further broken down into the following sub-competencies. These sub competencies are a set of training programs that is shared between Taylor’s through its Centre for Continuing Professional education and the Partner.

With both STEP & GeM programs running for 5 years now, we were able to see 4 cycles of students groups completing the program, the rest of student adopted are still in the system. The ultimate goal of the programme is to give both students and partners the opportunity to be familiar with one another. Partners will have exclusive contact with the students for 2 years before graduation during internships, trainings, workshop and seminars to gauge the student’s strengths and weaknesses. For STEP Programme, students that meet the partner’s recruitment criteria will be offered a middle management position with the organization. Students that have the potential to be groomed further will be offered a Management Trainee program which runs between 9 months to 1.5 years, after which students will be offered a Management Trainee program position which will eventually lead to a middle management position. As for GeM, similar model of securing employment is adopted where students that have successfully been groomed and trained to manage boutique size hotels will be offered a hotel executive position. Students that have the potential to be groomed further will be offered a Management Trainee program.

REACTIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS

To date, we have seen the ‘fruits of labor’ from the creation of both programs with the following statistics on student success rates to fast-track their career straight into management position with hospitality organizations for the STEP programme. The students from GeM programs are still in the system and the first batch is currently doing their final internship. The following page will display statistics of students enrolled into various positions within the partner’s organization.

REACTIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS