How can excellent academic achievements be recognized at an early stage? How do we manage to teach students important employability skills and introduce them to the tourism network that is so important?
The team of the Tourism & Hospitality Management Study Programs recently initiated the TM Excellence Club as an equivalent to the Dean’s List, which is a common institution at many international universities. “The goal of the TM Excellence Club is to recognize excellent academic achievements during the course of study, and not just at the time of graduation,” says the Head of Study Programs Florian Aubke. Every year, the three best students in their respective graduating classes are identified based on the average grades and nominated for the TM Excellence Club. The nomination for the Excellence Club entails a number of benefits for the students, all of which are designed to introduce the students to the professional network that is so important in tourism. In this way, the students get the opportunity early on to exchange ideas with outstanding personalities in the tourism industry and learn how to act confidently in this professional environment.
The pandemic will change the tourism industry more permanently than any external influences of the past decades have been able to do. In many areas, the industry, spoiled by success, has developed in a direction that does not allow for sustainable management. Images of overtourism in urban destinations, mass tourism and big hotels in previously idyllic coastal regions, ecologically questionable forms of travel and questionable working conditions have often determined the image of tourism. As a result, a number of young people who once enthusiastically decided to study tourism have gradually said goodbye to tourism. It is precisely the well-trained young people who are equipped with the necessary specialist knowledge, but also with a better moral compass, that should decisively shape the development of tourism in the years to come.
It is therefore also the declared goal of the TM Excellence Club to inspire students for one of the diverse and exciting careers in tourism and to prevent highly trained employees from migrating to other sectors. In order to achieve this, the TM Excellence Club has excellent partners at its side. The Austrian Hotel and Tourism Bank under General Director Wolfgang Kleemann made a unique kick-off event possible with top chef Toni Mörwald and star winemaker Bernhard Ott. Ulrike Rauch-Keschmann, Head of Section at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, and Christopher Norden, Editor-in-Chief of the leading industry medium T.A.I. brought further expert knowledge to the event. The TAI reported extensively on the event. Marco Riederer and Prodinger Tourismusberatung provide memberships for the Club Tourismus so that students can attend important industry events in the coming year. David Kurzböck and the recruitment agency Konen & Lorenzen invite all nominees of the TM Excellence Club to an exclusive career consultation.
The entire team of the Tourism & Hospitality Management Study Programs congratulates all nominees of the TM Excellence Club on their achievements and we look forward to more exciting events in the coming year.