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4 mins to read • Monday, 20 August, 2018
The program is a yearly activity for students who seek to advance their knowledge in their field of specialty by immersing in a westernized culture of the hospitality and business industry. Starting the academic year 2018 to 2019, it will be made available to all qualified students of Bukidnon State University.
Infographics courtesy of BukSU COB HRM Department
MALAYBALAY CITY (Information and Publication Service) Graduating Hotel and Restaurant Management student Rhea Mae Garcia, fresh from the United States of America Work and Travel Program, said the US is a country that always has something to offer – full of life and entertainment.
The 20-year old Garcia said that’s why she found her opportunity in the country quite different and amazing.
“We got a chance to meet and socialize with different kind of people, we experienced working in Four-star hotel in Hyatt Regency Boston,ʺ she said.
For Garcia, this helped her and 24 others in the class to learn a lot of things in line with hospitality. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in a recent memorandum ordered that the HRM program will now be known as Hospitality Management, to cover broader related fields.
The College of Business sent 25 HRM students and six Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) Major in Financial Management to the US Work and Travel Program, a Cultural Exchange Program of the US State Department. The students traveled to the US from April to June 2018.
The program is a yearly activity for students who seek to advance their knowledge in their field of specialty by immersing in a westernized culture of the hospitality and business industry.
Garcia said the program provided them time to familiarize themselves about American life and culture.
ʺWe had some time to enjoy Boston and visited some other cities around. The experience gave us great opportunities to take new initiatives and try new things that I have never done before through self-realization, ʺ she added.
Her classmate, Ervin Jay Baul said the program gave them avenue to further experience the American culture and tradition.
ʺIt angles our desire to further pursue our dreams, to become a competent professional someday. To be in America is both an honor and a challenge, ʺ he added.
Baul explained that it is honor because for many people who applied, he was one of those chosen. But he said it was also a challenge. He said it meant working in a new environment, people and culture and yet still need to exceed on company’s and guests’ expectations”.
Ms. Annie Leah Roxann L. Emata, HRM department chair, said the program has also been credited to be the on-the-job training of both courses from the COB.
This year, the students were trained in various US states: California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
They were housed with fellow students from different schools of different nationalities. This opportunity allowed them to experience the American style of life, the pace of work and travel.
Student-trainees received first-hand experience in their field of interests. Educational training has been complemented by technical training. The classroom work reinforced the workplace training. The program sought to expand the knowledge, skills and experience of the students and have generated the appropriate revisions and updates of BUKSU’s teaching standards which is expected to be at par with the rest of the world.
Ms. Emata said, at the least, the exposure provided opportunity for the students an edge in future employability, through internationalization.
Dr. Joy M. Mirasol, Vice President for Research, Extension and International Affairs, told IPS starting this year, the opportunity will be offered to all BukSU students, not just those from the College of Business.
She said international student mobility can help BukSU students have edge over students from other schools. (By Kathryn Faith E. Amarille of the BukSU-COB-Hospitality Management Department for IPS)