What do you do as the head of school for STH? 

Ultimately, it revolves around our mission of maximising the future readiness of our learners.

Since the pandemic, classes have moved online. The priority has been about ensuring our local and international students have a good learning journey. This was something new not only for learners but for most of the faculty too. 

It鈥檚 been a year now and through various trials and errors, I am glad we have embraced these nicely. It鈥檚 interesting to see the various educational tools used by different lecturers such as break-out rooms, Kahoot, Padlet to deliver the classes online and keeping learners engaged. Redesigning learning is a tedious process which requires lots of thought and reflection, but I must admit the team did very well here and I am proud of them.

Another one of my roles is keeping the syllabus relevant considering an evolving tourism and hospitality industry. Recently, we completed a major review of our pre-degree programmes and decided to bring in new modules such as digital marketing, information technology and artificial intelligence, intercultural communication and service quality to name a few.  

Finally, it鈥檚 the entire spectrum of school operations ranging from strategic planning, sales and marketing support, admissions, student and academic support to achieving the budget.

What do you love about the Tourism & Hospitality Industry?

It鈥檚 never a routine day, is it? I realised early I had this huge amount of energy in me and the food and beverage sector suited me fine. I love the pace, constantly learning a variety of operational and management skills, the multicultural aspects which has taught me so much about appreciating language and culture besides increasing my circle of friends worldwide, the opportunity to contribute and create memorable moments, travel opportunities as the core skills are transferable globally. Actually, the list goes on as there鈥檚 just so much to this exciting industry – so I will just stop here and invite you to explore it.

What would the students be surprised to find out about you?

I started work early to sustain myself. At 10, I was washing cars and just moved on to any available part-time job during my free time such as packing, cleaning and eventually at 14, I was introduced to kitchen stewarding. From the kitchen, I was exposed to the glamorous side of the restaurant and after countless part-time positions in hotels that don鈥檛 exist today such as Garden Hotel, Phoenix Hotel, Seaview Hotel, Paramount Hotel etc, I decided this was where I wanted to develop myself after my O鈥檒evels and managed to secure an industry scholarship into the Singapore Hotel School.

Any tips for students who are pursuing their studies in Tourism & Hospitality?

Since the pandemic, this industry has undergone a lot globally, but the desire to travel, and demand for food and beverages will return as we are seeing the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) being established. Many have also moved on from this industry with no plans to return, creating a vacuum of staff. This presents so many opportunities and possibilities to develop and progress. We are already seeing a huge manpower shortage in this industry today.

In STH, we offer practical skills development which is critical for the industry, as well as internship opportunities locally and globally. Students can leverage on the latter to explore this industry and subsequently decide their preferences.

In addition, STH equips learners with a range of business competencies that are easily transferable to other industries, such as banking & finance, technology, design, services and more.

How has the industry evolved and changed with the COVID-19 pandemic?

As countries around the world continue to curb the spread of infection, the tourism and hospitality industry has remained agile and continues to evolve by adopting various disruption management strategies such as redefined guest experiences, job redesign, digital transformation and manpower upgrades to adapt, resulting in rapidly evolving competencies.

I must add that a major contributor to developing current and forward-looking competencies are tourism and hospitality education institutes. Our primary objective remains in supporting the industry with practically and theoretically competent individuals able to meet the demands and challenges. Hence, educational institutes must perceive and consistently review existing management curricula to ensure its relevance in meeting the evolving human resource requirements of an industry undergoing significant transformation.

What were you like as a student in the past?

I am still a student right now pursuing my third Masters in Educational Leadership. I have never stopped being a student. In primary and secondary schools leading to hotel school, I was either busy with soccer/athletics or part-time work besides studying. Yes, so that鈥檚 me constantly busy with something.

If you could instantly become a master of any one skill, what skill would you pick and why?

Managing people, referring to internal and external. I mean – the world is so diverse and if I could master this skill, which I doubt, then the world is my oyster, don鈥檛 you think?

You may also be interested in:
A Peek Into Dr Alby鈥檚 Life
A Peek Into Dr Tham鈥檚 Life
A Peek Into Dr Rama鈥檚 Life
A Peek Into Dr Lisa鈥檚 Life

Introducing a new series “A Peek Into” where we interview Head of Schools and Lecturers and understand what life is like for them on campus and beyond. Today, we’ll take A Peek Into Dr Tham’s Life as the Dean of 51爆料 and also the Head of School for the School of Engineering & Technology.  

What do you do as the Dean of 51爆料 & the Head of School (HOS) for the School of Engineering & Technology (SET)? 

As a Dean, I oversee all operational issues for all schools at 51爆料 for both students and staff i.e. enrolment, discipline or misconduct, welfare, working and learning environment and others. As the HOS, I have been involved in student鈥檚 learning from the day a student enrolled into the programme till graduation and beyond. Students sometimes face difficulties and I try to solve them. For example, some students might have difficulty attending classes due to work commitments or personal issues. I have to ensure that lecturers are aware and we provide support to those students.

What first interests you in the field of Engineering?

It all started when I saw my neighbour playing with a yoyo. I鈥檓 not sure how old was I then. I was wondering how he made the yoyo swing back and forth while spinning. It was fascinating! I tried to figure out how it works and tried to modify my own yoyo by changing the string, even tried to put some light on it by dismantling it, but unfortunately failed and got scolded for breaking the yoyo. 

What would the students be surprised to find out about you?

I am very playful with my friends. We did a lot of things during our university time that our lecturers have warned us to stop or risk not being able to attend lectures.

What are some of the challenges SET students face today?

With the advancement of technology, students face very stiff competition among their peers around the world. The information or knowledge that they learnt might be outdated when they graduate. Hence, students need to update themselves regularly so that they can stay in the know and be competitive. 

Everything in excess is dangerous. Is artificial intelligence a threat or a blessing for today鈥檚 job?

It all depends on the purpose of the use of artificial intelligence. From my personal view, it is a blessing because it can help us to work more efficiently especially when working on routine work or tasks that do not involve decision making. Once decision making is done by artificial intelligence, we will be in deep trouble as it will only follow logic. However, we humans are born illogical.  

QuickFire Questions

What do you do to destress?

A night of good sleep will help me to destress and refresh my mind.

What鈥檚 your Netflix/Disney + recommendations? 

I am a big fan of animations or cartoons, especially lighthearted titles such as Ice Age, The Croods, Tom and Jerry, Kung Fu Panda and others. I watch them together with my children.