Tourism and maritime academies team up for the benefit students |12 September 2020

(From l to r) Mr Joubert, Captain Kotelawala and Mr Stravens during the signing ceremony (Photo: Joena Meme)

The Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA) and the Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) have teamed up to work on programmes for the benefit of the students at both institutions.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise this partnership was signed between the two institutions on Thursday this week following its approval by the cabinet of ministers on August 26, 2020.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony at the STA premises at La Misère between the principal of STA, Flavien Joubert, the director of SMA, Captain Aruna Kotelawala and the chairman of STA, John Stravens.

This was in the presence of stakeholders, teachers and students from both institutions.

The MoU is intended to strengthen the ties between both institutions with the aim of improving the level of standard delivery in the tourism and maritime industries for students who will be working on boats, cruiseships and yachts among other types of vessels.

It provides for SMA students to get adequate customer care and inter-personal skills, on-board catering, basic service skills and basic housekeeping operations training to be conducted at STA.

On the other hand, STA students will receive adequate training skills mainly in the areas of boat workmanship, marine park species, coral reef fish and basic snorkelling techniques to be conducted at SMA.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Joubert said he was glad that such an MoU had been signed as it will be filling missing elements needed by both sets of students. He noted that some eight years ago there did exist some sort of partnership with SMA to train its students on onboard catering, but it was stopped some four years ago for unknown reasons.

Following that, STA signed a MoU with Seypec (Seychelles Petroleum Company) whereby it has trained over 25 Seychellois chefs working onboard Seypec’s fleet of tankers and the training is ongoing.

Mr Joubert said he was very thankful for the newly formed Seychelles Yacht Association for pushing forward for such a MoU to be signed as it had been advocating that students, especially at SMA, be properly trained in tourism hospitality.

He added that the MoU will not only make the students happy, but has also made the wish of the Seychelles Yacht Association become true reality as it has been the cause of the MoU.

He said the MoU has provided the students at both institutions with great opportunities to move forward in their career path.

For his part Capt. Kotelawala said the MoU has proven the dedication of both institutions to provide quality and cost effective training as the tourism and maritime industries go hand in hand.

He noted that the MoU will get the learners to be prepared according to the needs of the industry.

He said the MoU has come as a blessing to support the student’s future and their future employment requirements.

To the students, the STA chairman said that apart from the educational part of the MoU, the tourism industry needs their proper attitudes so as to make Seychelles achieve and stand out in the future.

Patrick Joubert