MD’s Report

2011 will go down as one of the most difficult years ever for the global economy. South Africa as an economy has been fairly strong under the circumstances, but because of the global downturn in many of our tourism partner countries we have felt the dramatic drop in in-bound (overseas) tourists to this country. This is particularly true in the Hospitality Industry which unfortunately also has an oversupply of rooms/ beds in SA. In addition, the strength of the Rand has made SA an expensive destination.  Let’s hope things change during 2012!

It is no secret either that the industry worldwide has been through very difficult times and, because we are educating and training for that specific industry, our graduates have found that getting jobs in foreign countries has not been as easy as before.

COP17

COP 17 came at an opportune time for the Hospitality industry, and was a great fill up just before the end of the year, very welcome indeed, that you won’t see that often!

Let’s all hope that the World takes hold of itself and is able to fix its ills, the sooner the better.

Despite all this IHS has had a remarkably good year, at the beginning of the year we had a levelling out of student numbers in Johannesburg, a very good intake in Durban and a marginally disappointing intake in Cape Town – however, during the year we have added a number of different course options, allowing a wider range of students to attend our school. (Thank you to all who have contributed to the development and registration of these courses!) As we stand now, this certainly seems to have paid off and our total student numbers for 2012 are extremely encouraging. There are other course options in the pipeline, however the red tape needs to be exorcised before we can proceed with marketing these, so please bear with us, it will be worth it, in particular for our diploma graduates – watch this space, we are!

A major upgrade

The Durban Campus in particular has undergone a major upgrade, which will include a new training kitchen in the old Head Office building behind the main campus. All campuses are currently undergoing an overhaul of their computer rooms, which will see the old equipment in these rooms replaced with new, up to date (for now!) equipment. There is also some new material being added to the servers for students to use for research purposes and to provide better control of this equipment. All campuses were fitted with Wi-Fi coverage during the year including the residences. In addition, we are negotiating with our American text book supplier, AHLEI, to provide our books electronically in the future. They are not happy with the current security of existing systems, and are investigating options. We will move in this direction as soon as we are able to, which I believe will be a great benefit, and we hope a saving, to our students in the future.

We saw a change of Managing Principal at our Cape Town Campus, Alan Lester has taken over the responsibility and has settled in very well. Welcome Alan, it’s great to have you on board.

Last year we ran a pilot on-line learning program in which about 20 Trainees participated. After some teething problems I believe we are on our way to developing a fantastic learning system which, unlike many others, encourages student interaction and thought. As they say, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them!’ – Johan Oosthuizen, Mr O to most, has been the driving force, thank you Jo and your team for all the extra hours you have put into this during the year, I’m sure the Trainees will enjoy it in 2012. I believe this is the only way SA is capable of making up the backlog of education that we have as a country and I hope IHS can make a meaningful contribution in that direction.

The ‘social media’ scene

Talking about not beating them but joining them, our marketing direction has taken a radical (for me anyway!) turn and embraced the ‘social media’ scene, Ruth Paulsen, our Marketing Manager has been the brains and 24hr commitment behind this development, she has done an excellent job of this implementation, thanks Ruth, chat to you on Twitter – yea!

In October we launched a ‘Training Division’ which will concentrate on providing training for staff of hospitality companies in Southern Africa. The offerings include ‘professional certification’ which is endorsed by AHLEI and FEDHASA. It was a brave move in a difficult economy but I believe it will be of benefit to all. A tremendous amount of work has gone into this effort, thanks to all who contributed.

To all students leaving IHS at the end of 2011, if you haven’t completed your qualification, please make every effort to do so, you will only realise the value of a completed qualification when someone says to you at an interview ‘the job would have been yours if you’d completed your IHS qualification’ – don’t let yourself and your sponsor/ parent down – finish the job, please!

To the 2011 graduates

To the 2011 graduates, I know it’s been a tough road, but you will only realise how much you have gained over your time at IHS when you go into the work place. Enjoy developing your career wherever you choose it to be, please don’t stop studying.

To all of our students, please show appropriate gratitude and thank your parents/ sponsors for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make so that you can obtain an internationally recognised qualification. The best way you can do that is by making a success of your career, or if you are still a student, successfully completing your course so that you have the means to have a successful career. As I said at the start of this message, the economy is showing little sign of improving, but it will eventually, it always does. Make sure you are ready, and in a position to take up the opportunities that will inevitably emerge. It goes without saying that the best way to ensure this is with a good qualification and experience to back it up.

Finally, to my staff, who are also friends and colleagues at IHS, thank you for your commitment and support over the year, it’s been a great year, and may your 2012 be an absolutely stunning year.

Don King