The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London has launched London's first Travel and Hospitality Career Academy (Thursday 5 June), developing further the excellent opportunities the College's Travel and Tourism department is able to offer its learners. The launch was attended by industry professionals, staff and students from the School of Business and Travel and Tourism and the College's Interim Principal and Chief Executive Jane O'Neill.
The launch of the Travel and Hospitality Career Academy comes just shortly after the College's Business Career Academy achieved Grade One – 'Outstanding' in its Career Academies UK assessment. Students from the Business Career Academy currently receive internships with top flight companies, such as Merrill Lynch, Accenture and BP and the scheme also offers master classes with highly successful business executives, exciting workplace visits, and a programme of mentoring and paid internships for 16 – 19 year olds. These same things will all become available to the Travel and Hospitality Career Academy members.
The new Travel and Hospitality Career Academy will be fully up and running for students in October 2014. Travel and Tourism Level 3 students will be able to apply for a place, which will go to those who can demonstrate high levels of commitment and the dedication to succeed.
Sumeet Randhawa, Regional Manager for Career Academies UK said: "We are delighted that the College has launched a new Career Academy for Travel and Hospitality. They already run a very successful Business Career Academy where students who have the right attitude and potential, but may not have the traditional role models and networks - are given the skills and opportunities necessary to succeed in the workplace. We look forward to working closely with them to help even more of their students prepare for the world of work."
Industry guests at the launch were invited to become members of the Career Academy's Local Advisory Board, which acts as a partnership between the Career Academy and the local business community. Guests heard from Business Career Academy students to find out why industry links are so vital. Six students engagingly explained how they had been transformed from timid and shy interns into confident and effective junior executives. Their exposure to business professionals had been instrumental in their transformation.
Lauri Giambrone from Marriott Hotels said that: "As a business we have noted a shift in the number of applicants we have applying for our key roles. We want to work with colleges to raise the profile of the industry as a career destination and to showcase the huge range of roles you can do within it."
Julie Jones, Senior Member Services Manager and Vicki Wolf, Business Development Manager from ABTA also attended. Vicki said: "ABTA have a number of universities who are in our Partner Scheme but this is currently the only college. We realise the importance of partnering with colleges so that staff can be trained on the job from the grass roots up."
Vicki later tweeted to say that ABTA was looking forward to working with the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London and found the Launch "inspirational."
Kerry Rimmer of The Giles Group, which incorporate Giles Travel (a Top 30 travel management company), commented: "The business travel community is facing a serious problem – how to attract properly trained, new talent into the industry. Our own Giles Business Travel Academy provides a fantastic solution to this problem and we're looking forward to working with the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London to further promote the entrance of young people into the world of business travel."
Jane O'Neill Interim College Principal and Chief Executive, who opened the Launch said: "The College is gaining an excellent reputation for all areas of its work. Our Management and Leadership as well as our Business Administration and Accounting Apprentices were graded Outstanding by Ofsted and all areas of the curriculum inspected were graded Good. We are the top performing College in London and our learners have the highest levels of satisfaction compared to similar colleges. Just recently we learned our Business Career Academy has been graded as Outstanding. I have every confidence that the Travel and Hospitality Career Academy will go on to become another of our many successes."
Other companies at the Launch included business travel management company Carlson Wagon Lit represented by Anthony Gibson and Anveer Sanghera, as well as Kay Zantis from Enfield Council a Local Advisory Board Member for the Business Career Academy.
