President meets retired tourism academy principal |10 March 2021
President Ramkalawan and Mr Joubert exchanging gifts (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
Present Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday welcomed to State House Flavien Joubert, the former principal of the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA).
Mr Joubert is the longest serving principal of the hotel school in Seychelles. He was appointed as the principal of STA in 2007 by former President Danny Faure, who was then the Minister for Education. During his thirteen years at the school Mr Joubert introduced the following programmes and departments at the academy:
• Advanced Certificate Programme in Wellness and Spa, a first in the Seychelles, where students also sit for the City and Guilds International of London Certificate;
• Advanced Diploma Programme in Hospitality Management (ADHM), in collaboration with the Shannon College of Hotel Management (SCHM), Peter Moncherry and the National University of Ireland (NUI), leading to a Bachelor’s Degree;
• The In-Service Training department of STA, which has become a very special department conducting re-training, re-skilling during this pandemic period;
• The External Relations department which is now the Marketing & Promotion department and has placed the hotel school on the international scene through the various partnerships, both local and international.
Talking to the press after his meeting with President Ramkalawan, Mr Joubert said that the president thanked him for his long years of service in the tourism industry in Seychelles.
“He told me that even though I am retired he would still like me to help out whenever I can. We also discussed the 82 Shannon College graduates and how we can help them get employment in hotels,” Mr Joubert said.
With the imminent opening of the country to visitors worldwide, Mr Joubert said they also discussed new ways by which the tourism industry will be conducted now that it is resuming.
“We were training our students on a pre-Covid syllabus, now we have to adjust it to meet the post-Covid requirements and we will need the help of established hotels such as Hilton, Constance and Raffles to give lecturers at STA the knowledge required to work in the new hotel industry,” Mr Joubert said.
He added that hotel chains and small hotels are very willing to help STA and that it’s only a matter of going to them.
Talking about his retirement plans, Mr Joubert said that he will not be slowing down just yet as he has been on the board of the Indian Ocean Organisation since 2016 and with his retirement he will be able to focus on the work.
He also added that he is coordinating the establishment of a private school for an Arab investor.
“I have also written four books, two of which are on Amazon and I have a contract to write five more. I’m currently in negotiation with my publisher in the UK and when they give me the go ahead I will start the work,” said Mr Joubert.
He ended by saying that he is still on the board of STA and will still be around to help when he can.
Christophe Zialor