Tourism academy staff leave for training in Mauritius |02 August 2008

Their stay – the third this year by STA staff – is part of a cooperation agreement signed between the academy and the Constance Academy and hotels in Mauritius.

They are: Lydia Wirtz, lecturer in international tourism; Louine Labrosse, trainee lecturer, front office; Marie May Emilie, housekeeper; and Solange Hoareau, housekeeper.

STA principal Flavien Joubert, supported by three highly qualified Seychellois managers and two Seychellois heads of studies, is using a two-pronged approach to training.

This means training the 70 staff at the same time as training the students on Mahe and Praslin so as to make best use of the time to upgrade the lecturers’ knowledge and skills.

This is so they can meet the training requirements now all full-time courses at the STA have been upgraded and lengthened from one year to four years, made up of the new three-year Advanced Diploma course in hospitality management held in Seychelles, with the fourth year overseas.

Using this approach, the STA has sent 22 staff for overseas training since it was taken over by the Seychelles Tourism Board just over a year ago.

Two of them went to the International Tourism and Management College in Austria, others to the Constance Academy and the Beachcomber Academy in Mauritius and the Lycée St Paul and Centhor in Reunion. 

Eight staff have attended the National Institute of Education and some are still there; 12 did short courses at the Seychelles Institute of Management and more than 20 went on in-service courses at the STA run by local and overseas consultants.

The four staff now on attachment in Mauritius will have their theory classes at the Constance Academy and their practicals at Belle Mare Plage Hotel, which has more than 700 staff.

Since the programme is tailor-made for hotel and tourism staff and lecturers, they will have assessments and sit for an exam that will mean they return to Seychelles with a certificate if successful.

The Constance is an accredited academy privately owned by the Constance Group of hotels, which owns the Lemuria Resort and Spa Hotel on Praslin and the new five-star Ephilia Hotel now being built at Port Launay. 

All courses include full board and lodgings free of charge as part of the cooperation agreement.

Mr Joubert, who is also vice-chairman of the STA’s board of directors, says that so far the academy has been able to make maximum use of all the cooperation agreements with overseas agencies.

He has already held talks with the general manager and senior managers of the soon-to-be-opened Four Seasons hotel and the corresponding  managers of the Shangri-la Hotel to formalise similar cooperation.

The STA is lucky to be able to improve the skills of Seychellois staff through these agreements, he said. It will continue to do so in the long term – and for longer courses and attachments – as these not only provide high-class and credible training but also save the STA a lot of money that can be used for other projects to benefit lecturers and students.