Emergence Education commences tourism and hospitality courses

Gearing up for the boom in tourism, Emergence Education Consultants (Pvt) Ltd. (No. 23 1/3, Palm Grove, Colombo 03) has launched a series of programs targeting the hospitality industry which are scheduled to commence mid August this year.

Registered with the Organisation for Tourism and Hospitality Management (OTHM) UK, as one of their training centres in Sri Lanka, OTHM is one of the fastest expanding British professional bodies in the world. The current portfolio of OTHM courses allows individuals to commence studies at Introductory Certificate, Professional Certificate, Professional Diploma, Professional Higher Diploma or Post Graduate Diploma Level with six specialist OTHM Management Certificates.

The institute will also be conducting their own certificate courses in Supervisory and Management, Front Office Operations, Food and Beverage Management and House Keeping, they have gone a step further to provide internationally recognized professional courses, all of which are management-oriented, enabling students to aspire for both middle and senior management positions.

To start with, Emergence Education will be conducting the Introductory Certificate, Professional Certificate, and two specialist management certificates, namely OTHM Food and Beverage Management Certificate and OTHM Front Office Management Certificate.

Director Training of the institute, Neil Seneviratne stated that Emergence has on board well qualified resource persons, air-conditioned and comfortable lecture rooms, and all pre-requisites to commence courses. To name just one such trainer, Vijitha Nugegoda who has over 35 years of industrial experience both at home and abroad is the Principal Consultant for the Tourism and Hospitality courses.

He added that the aim of Emergence is to provide quality education, and with that in mind, have applied to the Tertiary and Vocational Commission (TVEC) for registration of their own certificate courses. He explained that OTHM courses differ to local ones in that they are more management-oriented, providing wider international exposure for graduates and as a professional body, their certificates are recognized across most Commonwealth countries.

The programs are targeted at school leavers who wish to make a career in Tourism and Hospitality, as well as those already in the hospitality trade who look to upgrade their skills.

Seneviratne said, “We consider ourselves special because we have given much thought to the development of curriculum and selection of resource persons as our aim is to impart quality education, to smaller groups so that we can give individual attention.”

He added that the organization will assist students with internship placements once they have successfully completed a course.

English knowledge is essential as the courses would be conducted in English, however, students would be given individual attention according to their needs.

On a final note, Seneviratne said, “I would categorize our courses as competitive, simply for the reason that we provide quality education imparted by qualified and competent teachers, smaller numbers with individual attention, a central location with modern comforts and most importantly, certificates that recognized locally as well as globally.”

What’s more all courses are conducted from 5.30pm to 8.30pm on weekdays, and 9.00 am to 4.00pm on weekends, to enable those in the industry to participate.

Caption: L-R Sandaka Gunasekara, OTHM Country Manager - Sri Lanka, Buddhika Karunasekara, Assistant Marketing Manager, Emergence Education, Neil Senevirathne Director, Emergence Education, Hiran De Silva, Principal Consultant, Emergence Education, Tim Murari, CEO and Director Marketing and Planning - OTHM UK, Vijitha Nugegoda, Consultant for tourism and hospitality, Emergence Education AND Berny Fernandez, Executive Coordinator, Emergence Education