Day 1 of the HTMi Global Student Forum took place on Wednesday, 21st April 2021 and saw an exciting program of international guest speakers together with HTMi Switzerland’s Bachelor of Science (Hons.) students present their own research in the form of poster presentations.
The first guest speaker Dr. Thomas Sladko, Managing Director, ISPD Protocol & Diplomacy, Oman discussed the “The Basics of International Protocol for the Hospitality Sector. Soft Diplomacy in the “New Normal”. This was followed by Mr. Fabrice Tessier, VP School Relations and Partnerships Talent & Culture, Accor, Paris, France who spoke on “Accor’s Vision for the Hospitality Industry in a post-Covid19 World”.
In the morning and afternoon sessions, our BSc (Hons.) students presented their research during the poster presentations. Congratulations to Paula Maria Toma, Lorant Tamas and Le Thu Thuy for making it to the top three finalists, who will present their research presentations on Thursday during day 2.
The first day the event saw the forum go live to over 16 countries across 15 time zones. Day 2 of the global student forum promises to be full of excitement, excellent research and innovation across all partners schools within the HTMi Switzerland family. The event will start off with the final round of the “Innovation Challenge” of the top eight schools who made it through round one. Congratulations goes to HTMi Saudi Arabia, HTMi Dubai, HTMi Singapore, HTMi Switzerland, Polytechnics Mauritius and UCSI University Malaysia for making it to the final round of presentations that will take place on Day 2 of the forum. The teams from all partner schools were tasked with answering the question on the theme, “What source of innovation contributes to the salvation of the hospitality industry?” All eight finalist teams will be live online from around the world to defend their research and ideas and answer questions from the global audience. We wish them all the best of luck!
Anthony Lack, President of HTMi International Events Association