In the mid-term the industry will show signs of recovery
Dr. Dimitrios Diamantis
Dean of Graduate Studies
Les Roches
Managing the global pandemic: a view point from an educational perspective
Any crisis, in this case a global pandemic, has an effect on the society both in terms of its human cost as well as its business routine. That inevitably affects educational institutions as their curriculum delivery has been impacted. Our educational plans for the year 2020 were to deliver our curriculum on a face to face model. With our Les Roches sites in China, Shanghai, Spain and Switzerland our program model was disrupted earlier in the year with the Les Roches Jing Jang site in Shanghai under restriction and its programs then delivered via remote learning.
Through our experience in education and as an establishment for international students for 60 years, we have been very much proactive with careful measures of hygiene from our student graduation event in late January and thereafter. We have worked on different scenarios of learning delivery for the start of the year and then we switched to remote learning in a very smooth way when it became a necessity. The plans did not change as far as the curriculum and its learning outcomes. What has changed is the postponement of different campus events and study trips in Shanghai, Dubai and Chicago for our graduate students. As our educational model is very agile and global that also provided a good platform that we were able to adapt to this short- term reality of remote learning.
How has the outbreak affected your business? What are your biggest challenges?
The outbreak has definitely changed our business in terms of the educational delivery of our programs. In effect, we had to deliver them remotely. Our biggest challenge was to manage the natural worries of our students of 95 nationalities. Next, our faculty and staff have been very agile and understanding and as a community we have adapted well to the new reality. With students and employee health as a paramount importance, our biggest challenge has been to make sure that everyone is well taken care of as well as staying healthy during the pandemic period.
What are you currently doing to tackle the situation?
We have developed our educational systems remotely and at the same time we are looking after a number of students on campus. Through regular meetings with our stakeholders: students, faculty and staff as well as the wider community, we are constantly monitoring the situation. At Les Roches we have been very proactive and anticipated that the outbreak may reach our shores. As such, we had educated our population in healthy measures before our educational provision moved to remote learning. Our community has shifted to working from home and at the same time, we have been carrying our regular meetings with all the community. Being healthy and well is of a top priority at this stage and as such we constantly monitor and communicate our situation with our community and local government agencies.
In the mid-term and as with any historical events, the society managed to flourish after a result of a crisis
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How do you see the future?
The immediate future will be enigmatic in terms on how the industry will respond. With a number of economies depending on tourism as a contributor to their balance of payments, certain countries have already started to take “small steps” to a new normality. This norm will be different. Consumers will be hesitant at start, social distancing may take some time to become a social interaction and as such the travel may start being slow at first.
In the mid-term and as with any historical events, the society managed to flourish after a result
of a crisis. Although the global pandemic has been a relatively short-term event, its effects
will be felt much longer. Its economic impacts will be showcased in direct, indirect and induced effects where the notion of a holiday may be may be questioned into a question. As such, in the medium term, the industry will show signs of recovery, once the consumer gets the confidence that there is no health threat to the places that they visit. As far as the educational institutions, the challenges will be to showcase adaptability and engage in the sort of practices distinctive to
their activity. For us as a top ranked hospitality school it means to work closely with our industry patterns, having an engagement with our students as well as to take the lead in educational practices both in delivery and research.
Hospitality at its core is about understanding the gestures of service which now are more important than ever, especially after a global crisis. Taking the lead with an entrepreneurial flair – that is something that our school ethos is founded upon and a principle that runs through the veins of our institution.
In such times, the way forward for the hospitality and tourism industry alike needs to be dynamic, more sustainable and supportive across industries. Especially after a crisis, different industries need to work closely together in very much circular economic principles that o er a mode of activity that is innovative, implicit and above all collaborative for the benefit of its consumers and the future generation, in this case the students that are currently with us.
In such times, the way forward for the hospitality and tourism industry alike needs to be dynamic
On-line certificates
To enable students to make the most out of their remote learning period, Les Roches students have been granted private access to join small group sessions coached by experts in Revenue Management, Hotel Valuation and Spa Management. The additional two-week courses available since the end of April this year have already proven very successful with almost 4,500 students already registered from 90 countries worldwide.
The courses “Hotel Market Analysis and Valuation”, “Hotel Revenue Management”, “Excellence in Spa Operations” and “Maximizing Spa Profitability: Financial Planning for Spa and Wellness Centers” are all designed to meet specific industry needs and will allow students to obtain 4 professional certificates in addition to their academic degree.
Unique series “Leading Hospitality Through Turbulent Times”
Les Roches students will also be able to access exceptional new series of live online classes entitled “Leading Hospitality Through Turbulent Times”. From the initial impacts of the crisis and the lessons to be learned from past cycles, to a potential recovery and what hospitality is likely to look like post-COVID-19, students will gain a thorough understanding of how Hospitality industry is being affected by the crisis while learning from experts on ways to face up to it in the most efficient way possible.
Every week between now and the end of June, senior faculty from Les Roches and its sister brand, Glion Insititue of Higher Education, will be joined by expert guests from the worlds of hospitality, luxury, nance, academia and research.
The sessions will be around three main topics: Global Trends & Economic and Financial
Impact, Strategies & Tactics and Organizations, Leadership & Careers. Yves Schemeil, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Sciences Politics Paris, will share some of his outstanding insights. So will, among many others, Steve Hood, Senior Vice President of Research for hospitality data and analytics specialist STR, Robert Alter, Chairman Emeritus and Founder of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc., Michel Girardin, Economics Applied to Finance Professor at University of Geneva, Chris Mumford, CEO Cervus Leadership. This content exclusive at first to the institutions’ students will be available to all through the schools’ websites to give the Hospitality communities some insights as they look to rebound.
Other Voices of Clarity
