Joining the Hospitality Excellence Programme part 1

Two students of Stenden University Bali were selected as representatives of Stenden at the Hospitality Excellence Programme 2015. The proud students, Joshua and Gaby  are working together with other students from 4 reputable hotel schools to create a research paper in hospitality. Here is just the first article about their contribution to the programme. Check it out! 

It’s HEPpy Time!

Feel honoured to join the HEP

As quoted by a famous American football player/coach, Vince Lombardi (n.d.), “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” This quote has inspired me to apply for Hospitality Excellence Programme 2015, or HEP in short. Initially commenced in 2013, HEP is a co-creation between the Association of Dutch Hotel Management Schools with Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) or Dutch Association for Hospitality Entrepreneurs. 

Fellow HEP representative students 

In other words, this is also a collaborative networking programme where 5 ambitious students from 5 different, reputable Dutch hotel schools work in teams, dealing with a real-life, wicked problems within the hospitality industry.

It is of my great honour and enthusiasm that I was selected as one of the 5 students who represent Stenden University along with another Stenden University Bali (SUB) student, Gaby. The selection process involved the screening of CV and motivation letter as well as an interview with two Stenden’s best professors, Mrs. Elena Cavagnaro and Mr. Sjoerd Gehrels. 

We are so proud not only because we were chosen for this prestigious programme, but also because we are capable of representing SUB as well. This means that SUB has high academic standards that give us added value compared with the regular students in Leeuwarden.  #BeProud

New knowledge gained, new friends made!

Continuing Stenden’s legacy from past experiences, Stenden is, again, the only university represented by international students, while the other hotel schools are mostly Dutch. This year, Stenden send 2 Germans – whom one of them recently won the European Mise en Place Cup 2015 (http://emcup.eu/), 1 Honduran/Swedish and not to forget Gaby and I from Indonesia. Interestingly, this has always been Stenden’s value where all international students get equal opportunity to attend various events and programmes offered. It is, in fact, unity in diversity!

Networking lunch

So far, I have attended the first introductory session hosted by Saxion University in Apeldoorn on Friday, 13 February. 2 hours away by car from Leeuwarden, the journey was truly worthy as I have learnt a lot of new, interesting things such as the design thinking method. Besides, I have also met my fellow (future) young hoteliers and professors from the different schools in which we share about how the education differs amongst the schools. As the only guy in the team, I feel so privileged working with friendly and intelligent ladies from Hotelschool The Hague, Saxion University, NHTV Breda and Hotelschool Maastricht respectively. 

In the next four monthly sessions, my team will mostly research on the future of hospitality industry in cities under the supervision of Dr Karoline Wiegerink from Hotelschool The Hague and Dr Albert Postma from Stenden University. At the end of the day, the final product of this programme will be a research paper as well as a presentation, which adds value to the hospitality industry. Overall, new knowledge gained, new friends made!

Student giving presentation at HEP

At last but surely not least, we as Stenden representatives are looking forward for the upcoming session on Thursday, 12 March and Friday, 13 March, which we will host it this time! With an overnight stay in our beloved Stenden Hotel, I am so excited to welcome these people and show the arts of hospitality in Leeuwarden, which might include party as well J. All in all, it was, is and going to be a HEPpy time!

For further information:

KHN Official Website: http://www.khn.nl/home

Association of Dutch Hotel Management School Official Website: http://www.dutchhotelmanagementschools.nl/home