Dusit goes for 'top hotel school' in region

Recently, it sent a delegation to Nepal to attract people from wealthy families studying in international schools. It got a good response. In the near future, it will go to Myanmar to present its curriculum.
Currently, there are more than 300 international students at the college. They come from Germany, Sweden, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Laos.
Veera Pardpattanpanich, the college’s rector, said the number of its foreign students was expected to increase significantly via a more aggressive marketing programme, especially after the establishment of the Asean Economic Commu-nity (AEC) in 2015.
“Nowadays, the school’s reputation comes from word of mouth. We are one of the recognised schools in the region in this field,’’ she said.
To an extent, the school’s rising role in the region comes along with its social contributions. Chanin Donavanik, managing director and chief executive officer of Dusit Thani Group, said the college helped design hospitality curricula in universities regionally. The Philippines is one example, and now the college is in talks with Indonesia. 
This year, the college will produce 400 graduates, up from about 300 a year earlier. The coming AEC market offers a big opportunity because there are not many schools able to train students in the hospitality field with an integrated curriculum of both academic and hands-on experience with hotel facilities.
Yesterday, the college announced the official launch of an international programme in hotel and resort management with the academic certification of Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, a Swiss hospitality school.
Veera said the joint operation had moved a step forward to become a regional school. By 2015, she believes that the school will be able to produce a rising number of professionals in this field because some nations such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have not yet established a professional foundation.
Chanin believes that the opening up of the hospitality industry under the AEC will result in shortages of professionals. Especially in Thailand, local employees are most likely to face an influx of professional manpower who are more fluent in English and other skills. Some also will have lower labour costs.
At the same time, the industry may face trouble because the government has not defined a clear plan to produce qualified graduates to serve the changing industry.