Curriculum and equipment that keep pace with international standards at the Technical Institute for Tourism Sciences

Damascus countryside-SANA

The Technical Institute for Tourism and Hotel Sciences, located in the Qudsaya suburb of Damascus countryside, recently supplemented the seven hotel and tourism institutes affiliated with the Ministry of Tourism by opening a new door to accommodate a large number of hotel and tourism high school students and secondary certificates in its branches (scientific, literary and professional).

The institute, whose official opening was only a few months ago, and its beginning was by receiving and teaching students about a year ago, was distinguished during this short period by the modern curricula that were developed by international teams (such as the Italian and Lebanese teams) and the equipment it provides to students that keep pace with international standards according to those in charge of it and the students who entered the first experience in it after they finish high school.

The practical aspect occupies the largest role in the institute’s curriculum and is twice as much theoretical training, according to a statement by the Director of Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Tourism, Fadi Nizam, to SANA, where there is a special training suite for students on hotel work skills and how to provide services well for guests and visitors, and programs for cutting airline tickets and reservations, in addition to Electronic application programs (Opera and Amadeus) with the aim of graduating cadres ready to work in public and private facilities directly.

The duration of the study at the institute is two years, in the first of which the student studies general subjects and in the second he specializes in the field he desires (hotel or tourism). Applied in cooperation with the Virtual University.

Registration at the institute is done through a comparison of the successful high school certificate (scientific and professional). As for the successful students from the literary branch, they are registered immediately after undergoing an interview under the supervision of professors and specialists in language and skills measurement, while the hotel secondary students are accepted directly at the institute without an interview examination.

Director of the Technical Institute for Tourism and Hotel Sciences, Suzan Al-Akal, indicated in a statement to SANA that the institute began receiving and teaching students a year ago, when it was officially inaugurated on 7-10-2021. And a laundry, refrigerators, and two hotel suites for training, consisting of ten hotel rooms, in addition to an outdoor restaurant.

The teaching staff at the institute consists of professors from the Faculty of Tourism specializing in kitchen, reception, restaurant, English and French languages, communication skills, occupational health and safety, and electronic operation.

The teacher, Ahmed Afifi, who is responsible for materials for the front offices and the restaurant, explained that he trains students on information about receiving guests, settling them within rooms, reservations, and special operations, and enabling them to remedy and solve any problem that the guest encounters, in order to reach the procedures for departure.

Both second-year students, Maram Al-Aranji and Abdullah Kilani, considered the institute the most appropriate place for them to gain experience and skills and get a job opportunity in the future, in addition to the fact that they can continue their university and academic education or open their own business after graduation.

Among the new students at the institute, Samira Manla and Muhammad Hashem Qudimi indicated their enthusiasm to study the institute's curriculum after what they heard about it keeping pace with the most important and latest developments in this field and their love for working in this profession after graduation.

It is noteworthy that the institute was equipped with a capacity of 600 students during the years of the war on Syria in the hands of national cadres from the Ministry of Tourism and public sector companies with the aim of providing the labor market with trained and qualified young expertise.

Sakina Muhammad and Gemma Ibrahim