Marco Hoor Ten, director Hotel Management School, NHL Stenden, reports that after a successful week of meetings on Aruba, talking to the University of Aruba, UA, the government of Aruba and industry partners, the group developed plans to open a new Grand Tour location of NHL Stenden, on Aruba, and signed an MOU with UA.
The NHL Stenden delegation concluded the visit here with a local Alumni event at the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino. And Marco who is the world’s most enthusiastic person had a fantastic time meeting the Alumni of the famed Dutch Hotel Management School in Leeuwarden. Apparently, Aruba has had graduates from that program, manning/womaning key industry positions here for 34 years. The delegation will be back next year with the first 25 Grand Tour students.
The four-year Bachelor of Art program, offers Hotel Management under the larger umbrella of Hospitality Management – including gastronomy, catering, events, human resource, marketing, sales and finance. In their third year, students pick 2 minors that suit them, which they can follow in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, or at one of the international campuses in Thailand, South Africa, Bali, and now also Aruba. Studying abroad is just part of the curriculum, and adds international flair to the program. When students finish their 4-years of study the are assigned a paid internship of 10 months, which means that their chances of finding a great job, post-graduation, are very good.
The NHL Stenden students work on current issues of companies, they gain a lot of practical experience up to management level in a real, commercial hotel, in the four-star Notiz Hotel campus, they don’t live in dormitories, but experience independent life on their own, and naturally finding employment after all that exposure to work, is much easier especially after their 10 months internship.
What it means for Aruba? We will have a steady influx of educated third year NHL Stenden Hotel Management School students working in our industry. They call it the Grand Tour; we call it work. The students will be here a semester at a time, living, contributing, spending. This will be a game changer as far as hospitality service, and service standards, plus an amazing opportunity for our own hotel management students, who may finish their associate degree here, and conclude their university education, there.
Two other members of the NHL Stenden delegation were Marc Otto, member of the executive board, and Wayne Johnson, director international affairs, who are equally excited about the upcoming NHL Stenden campus, and already toured some real estate in town, that might be perfect to house the school classrooms and administration. This will be great for Oranjestad, making it a center of learning and living, again.
The NHL Stenden also offers other programs, such as nursing etc., and the visiting delegation already dropped a few hints that following a successful launch of their hospitality program, they will tackle nursing. Which again is a game changer for Aruba, with a potential influx of third-year students working in our short-of-staff health care system.
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