VIRTUAL TOUR
2011
18 AugUCSI UNIVERSITY TO LEAD MALAYSIA CENTRE FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATION
CENTRE TO DRIVE EPP10 TO DEVELOP TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Kuala Lumpur, 18 August, 2011 - UCSI University is leading a national centre to drive its work-based learning programme aimed at developing the human capital for Malaysia’s tourism and hospitality industry. The University launched the Malaysia Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Education (MyCenTHE) Thursday to serve as the driving force behind its Entry Point Project 10 (EPP10) within the government’s Economic Transformation Programme to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020. The project aims to tackle Malaysia’s rising vacancies within its tourism and hospitality industry with skilled workers who can support the industry’s high-end growth. MyCenTHE was launched during its NationalAwareness Campaign Launching Ceremony, officiated by the Minister of Higher Education, the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Human Resources. The ceremony was held at the Ministry of Higher Education in Putrajaya and included an address from Associate Professor Dr Wong Kong Yew, Chairman of MyCenTHE and Vice President of Industry and Strategic Projects of UCSI Group, the parent organisation of UCSI University. More than 350 senior officers and management staff attended the event, including representatives from the government sector, hospitality industry and institutions of higher education, including UCSI Group Chairman Dato’ Peter Ng and UCSI University Vice Chancellor Dr Robert Bong.
“Human capital is responsible for the growth and more importantly, the value and sustainability of the tourism and hospitality industry,” Dr Wong said in his opening address. “Through our plan, we will be able to motivate our existing workforce to upgrade their skills while also attracting new students to the programme by making hospitality education affordable, bringing educational opportunities for all, thereby benefiting the industry.”
MyCenTHE uses a unique work-based learning format that allows the tourism and hospitality students to work and earn money with members of MyCenTHE’s tourism and hospitality network as they train for a diploma in tourism and hospitality.
Under the leadership of UCSI University, MyCenTHE is made up of an Independent Management Team (IMT) and Cluster Leaders, who work together to establish the work-based learning curriculum and spread it throughout the country, ultimately creating high-value jobs, career pathways and business opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industry to support the national agenda of building a high-income nation. The Cluster Leaders include UCSI University in both Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur as well as SATT College in Sarawak, YTL International College of Hotel Management in Kuala Lumpur, KDU College in Penang, Taylor’s University in Kota Kinabalu and Yayasan Sabah in Kota Kinabalu. UCSI Group’s own UCSI Hotel luxury chain will also serve as a training hotel for UCSI University students, with developing locations in Kuala Lumpur, Bandar Springhill and Kuching.
“This is indeed a national initiative driven by the private sector, addressing the long-overdue challenge of providing high quality workforce for the tourism and hospitality industry in Malaysia,” said Minister of Tourism YB Dato’ Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen. “Together with the work-based learning programme, UCSI Group’s expansion plans will not only provide students additional educational and employment opportunities but provide higher-quality infrastructure to support Malaysia’s tourism and hospitality industry.”
“UCSI University is perfectly positioned and poised today to deliver the exact level of training and education for the tourism and hospitality industries, as well as to expertly assess skills gaps and to devise and deliver appropriate courses for this area and field, ranging from chefs to chiefs to concierges,” said Minister of Human Resources YB Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.
“As a leading private institution of higher learning, I know that UCSI University is eager to use its knowledge base to give back to both its local community and the nation at large,” said Minister of Higher Education YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin. “With EPP10, Malaysians will have access to high-quality training in the tourism and hospitality industry, a skill set that is of high relevance both domestically and abroad. With better training, the workforce will also have access to better renumeration packages, thereby lifting both their economic and social statuses. Better packages will also mean that more people will be attracted to join the industry.”
The launching of MyCenTHE puts EPP10 well on its way of achieving its goals of producing at least 50,000 skilled tourism and hospitality graduates per year by 2020.
The MyCenTHE curriculum launched at UCSI University’s Sarawak campus in May and will be available at UCSI University’s Kuala Lumpur campus in September with plans to eventually spread through different education providers throughout the rest of the country. For more information, visit MyCenTHE website at www.mycenthe.org.my.
