The Australian High Commission recently hosted a reception to congratulate 23 teachers from the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) who were awarded Australia Awards certificates for successful completion of an International Training and Assessment course.
The Hon John Amaratunga, Minister for Tourism Development, Christian Religious Affairs and Lands was joined by Charlotte Blundell, Counsellor Development Cooperation to present the awards.
Australia is a long-standing partner of Sri Lanka, this year marking 70 years of diplomatic relations. The Australian Government has a current focus on helping Sri Lanka to build a well skilled labour force to service Sri Lanka’s booming tourism industry.
“Tourism has great potential to create work and business opportunities for thousands of people here in Sri Lanka and successful hospitality businesses rely on the skills of the people involved”, said Ms Blundell at the event.
Australia Awards is the scholarship program funded by the Australian Government. Over the past six decades, the program has provided over 1000 scholarships to Sri Lankans.
For many of the SLITHM trainers who have backgrounds in the hospitality industry, this was the first time they had received formal training on how to be a teacher. As well as introducing practical and effective ways of teaching and assessing student learning and abilities, the course covered two hospitality subjects on “managing diversity in the workplace” and “providing service to customers”. Gender equality and social inclusion were cross-cutting themes of the whole program. The course was delivered intensively over a five week period by Melbourne Polytechnic, one of Australia’s leading institutes in hospitality and tourism management.