Tag Archives: Shannon College of Hotel Management

AFTER 34 years, Dr Phillip Smyth has retired as head of the Shannon College of Hotel Management. He is succeeded by Adrian Sylver, who is the fifth head of the College since it was founded 71 years ago. Dr Smyth joined Shannon College in 1988 after a career in the Defence Forces, with Army duties in border control, overseas and as a lecturer in the Military College. His background had a major influence in his management style at Shannon College of Hotel Management, with attention to detail, impeccable presentation, discipline and hard work, all integral parts of the learning. In his role, he successfully guided Shannon College of Hotel Management through three decades of immense change, from his start at the College with only four staff and 150 students, to the institution it is today with more than 40 staff and more than 450 students. Through his time at Shannon, Dr Smyth oversaw and contributed to important milestones including Shannon’s …

A TEAM of students from the Shannon College of Hotel Management is getting ready to compete at a top continental hospitality competition. The Mise En Place Cup in Maastricht is a competition for Europe’s top hospitality schools and third year students Alex O’Sullivan, Grace O’Toole, Darragh Curran, Charlotte O’Brien and Zoe Ahern will represent Shannon. Speaking this week, Alex said, “Within our year we all compete to be on the team, by sending in different introduction videos and our CVs. “Then our mentor chooses five students who she thinks will represent the college well. We are going over to Maastricht in February of 2023 to take part in the competition.” On the assessment of the competing colleges, she added,”At the minute we have to write a paper and when we get over there we have to pitch it Dragon’s Den-style. “We have to pretend that we are pitching to a company, a hotel group, trying to sway them in a …

THE Shannon College of Hotel Management has an economic impact of over €5 million per annum, its head Dr Phillip J Smyth told a meeting of Shannon Municipal District councillors on Tuesday. The meeting was held at the College and at its outset the members heard a presentation from Dr Smyth, which was somewhat disrupted because of a cyber attack on NUI Galway, of which the college is a part. Dr Smyth said that it is now quite difficult to get housing for its approximately 400 students. “The biggest problem we have is accommodation,” he said. Dr Smyth said that a mail shot is going out throughout the Municipal District, looking for expressions of interest in housing students. Explaining some of the college’s history, he said that when it was being established by Dr Brendan O’Regan, approaches were made to Government for funding. However Dr Smyth said the Government’s position was that “there were not jobs for 12 trained hotel …

SENATOR Alice-Mary Higgins encourages all NUI graduates, including Shannon College of Hotel Management and Burren College of Art, to claim their vote in Seanad Éireann elections, before the registration deadline. All NUI graduates who are Irish citizens are entitled to vote in Seanad Éireann elections. However, they must first claim their vote by downloading the voter registration form from NUI or phoning to request a form. Completed forms must be scanned and returned by next Monday, February 26. NUI graduates who are living overseas are entitled to claim their vote and can vote in future Seanad elections from abroad through a postal vote. Independent Senator Alice-Mary Higgins, who was elected to the NUI panel in Seanad Éireann in 2016, said, “On the centenary of Irish women winning the right to vote, I will continue to work for equality and democracy. I am committed to pressing for Seanad reform so that all Irish citizens will be entitled to vote in future …

Executives of a leading hotel group in the Far East travelled to Shannon College of Hotel Management this week to learn the ‘Irish way’ of hotel-keeping. The senior Gloria Hotels & Resorts Group executives spent a week undergoing an intensive course at the renowned college, which has educated some of the leading hoteliers in the world. The rapidly growing group has 63 four and five star hotels, which are mainly located in China but also in Malaysia and Japan, and employs 15,000 people. It is adding up to 20 new hotels to its portfolio each year. It is the latest international education coup for the Shannon College of Hotel Management, which in 2012 signed a deal with the Seychelles government for all hotel management students from the tourism archipelago to be educated through the college, including with one year in Ireland. Shannon College of Hotel Management has 400 students, almost 50% of which are international students, with 70% of those …