One of the world’s leading hospitality training institutions, the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITH) in Salzburg, Austria has doubled its annual quota of scholarships for SLITHM students due to ‘high performance and commitment’.
With this development Sri Lanka’s premier hospitality industry trainer, Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) continues to lead the way in holistic hospitality training and education through its liaisons with leading foreign institutions.
These international connections which have been nurtured over a long period of time have opened up unique opportunities for SLITHM students to receive training in reputed foreign institutions. As a result, SLITHM’s foreign scholarship programme for high performers has spawned many well rounded hospitality professionals who today serve the country with distinction.
SLITHM has had a longstanding relationship with the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITH) Salzburg, Austria. Being one of the leading hospitality educational institutions in Europe, its programmes are highly sought after and have won world acclaim.
ITH which is based in Salzburg, Austria offers 30 scholarships annually to Asian and African countries, allocating two scholarships for each country. ITH first made available these year-long scholarships to SLITHM way back in 2005 and since then many Sri Lankan students have benefitted from the experience and expertise gathered from one of Europe’s top hotel schools.
This year ITH has doubled its scholarship offering to four seats in consideration of the high performance and commitment displayed by SLITHM students and on a personal request made by the German Language Lecturer at SLITHM, Damayanthi Sudasinghe.
According to Chairman, SLITHM, Sunil Dissanayake, “Our aim is to increase the Austrian scholarship quota up to 10 seats next year.”
This year SLITHM has selected four of its top students to avail of this unique opportunity. Based on performance criteria these students have been selected from the main campus in Colombo and in Bandarawela. The ITH program consists of theoretical sessions (8 months), teacher training (1 month) followed by industrial training (3 months) in reputed star class hotels in Austria.
The scholarships are only offered to students of SLITHM who have successfully completed 04 certificate courses complemented with two years of hospitality industry experience. An added requirement is for prospective candidates to have German language certification from Goethe Cultural Institute in Colombo. SLITHM students are eligible for a discount on German language courses at the Goethe institute.
SLITHM is now in the process of forming an Alumni Association of Salzburg Scholarship Students and those interested may contact Namal Muhandiramage ([email protected]) or Damayanthi ([email protected]).
Recent success stories include:
2005 Kanishka Nugawela, at present member of the Faculty of SLITHM - Ratnapura; 2005 Malinda Perera, at present General Manager of a hotel in Myanmar, former Faculty Member - SLITHM; 2005 Akalanka Amarasiri, former Faculty Member of SLITHM and now having his own Sri Lankan Restaurant in Salzburg, Austria; 2006 Gayani Dissanayaka, former Faculty Member of SLITHM – Colombo; 2006 Pubudu Dassanayaka, Entrepreneur and Hotelier; 2006 Dilan Bandara, at present Training and Development Manager of Ananthara Hotel, Tangalle; 2009 Ayesha Paiva, at present Training and Development Manager at Colombo Hilton; 2013 Surath Samaratunga, at present Learning and Development Manager at Hilton Residencies, Colombo and former Faculty Member of SLITHM Colombo; 2015 G Tharuka, presently attached to Ballys Casino